Nikkei in Tokyo Trims Weekly Gain to 1.5%

Hiruki Nakamura
27 Nov, 2015
New York City

Nikkei in Tokyo slipped after transport, textile and power shares declined. Nisshinbo, Sharp, Sumitomo Osaka Cement were among the worst performer. The consumer prices index in October increased 0.3% but jobless rate in October declined to a 20year low of 3.1%.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Nikkei in Tokyo slipped after transport, textile and power shares declined. Nisshinbo, Sharp, Sumitomo Osaka Cement were among the worst performer. The consumer prices index in October increased 0.3% but jobless rate in October declined to a 20year low of 3.1%.[/R]

Nikkei average in Tokyo eased as investors looked ahead to the kick-off of the holiday shopping in the U.S. However, for the week, the index closed up 1.5%.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is planning to offer financial assists to developing countries and provide 1.3 trillion yen per year by 2020 to fight against the climate change.

Nine out of 10 major domestic power suppliers’ plans to reduce their electricity rates for January after decreasing of crude oil prices but all four major gas suppliers raise their rates due to increase the prices of liquefied natural gas.

The consumer prices index in October increased 0.3% from a year ago month but decrease 0.1% from September, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said.

The seasonally adjusted jobless rate in October unexpectedly declined to a 20-year-low of 3.1% from 3.4% in the previous two months, in a preliminary report the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said.

The number of unemployed people rose a seasonally adjusted 9.6% to 2.06 million while the number of workers fell to 63.96 million.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 80.31 or 0.4% to 19,864.10 and the broader Topix index slipped 8.67 to 1,593.65.

For the week, Nikkei 225 gained 1.5%.

The yen weakened to 122.56 against a dollar.

Stocks in Review

Ryosan Company, Limited fell 0.3% to 3,055 yen after the electronic devices maker plans to repurchase up to 1.32 million shares worth about 4.62 billion yen between November 30 and March 2016.

Toray Industries Inc gained 0.4% to 1,129 yen after the diversified group forecasted sales in China for the year in March to surge 20% to nearly 400 billion yen and operating profit to soar 24% to 23.5 billion yen.

The company estimated group operating profit for fiscal 2015 of about 155 billion yen.

Toshiba Corp jumped 2.4% to 292.30 yen after the diversified conglomerate intends to split a part of its chip business to raise capital in restructuring in the aftermath of a $1.3 billion accounting scandal.

However, chief executive officer Masashi Muromachi confirmed that the NAND flash memory chip unit will remain a part of the group and will not be sold but also added that ""we would consider selling every asset that is possible to sell.""

In October, Toshiba agreed to sell its image sensor business to Sony Corp.