Nikkei Falls on Commodities Gloom, Machine Orders Surge

Hiruki Nakamura
09 Dec, 2015
New York City

Nikkei average fell 1% on the deepening gloom in commodities market and another day of sustained losses in New York and European stocks overshadowed the surge in core machine orders. Hakuhodo Dy Holdings said November sales soared 12.5% from a year ago.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Nikkei average fell 1% on the deepening gloom in commodities market and another day of sustained losses in New York and European stocks overshadowed the surge in core machine orders. Hakuhodo Dy Holdings said November sales soared 12.5% from a year ago.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo continued to decline and deepening gloom in the commodities market overshadowed the surge in core machinery orders.

Core machine orders, an important indicator of capital spending, soared 10.7% in October to 903.8 billion yen, following an increase of 7.5% in September, the Cabinet Office reported today.

Manufacturing orders surged 14.5% to 376.5 billion yen while government orders tumbled 39.7% to 190.9 billion yen. Overseas orders jumped 41.6% to 1.29 trillion yen.

The M2 money stock in November was up 3.3% to 915.3 trillion yen, the Bank of Japan said.

On Tuesday, the Cabinet Office announced that Japan’s GDP expanded by an annualized 1% in the third quarter, compared with a preliminary estimate of 0.8% drop.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average slumped 191.53 or 0.9% to 19,301.07 and the broader Topix index fell 13.15 to 1,555.58.

The yen dropped against the dollar to 122.74.

Stocks in Review

Hakuhodo Dy Holdings Inc gained 0.4% to 1,347 yen after the advertising and marketing company said total sales in November soared 11.4% from the previous month and jumped 12.5% from a year ago.

Revenues in the television segment increased 1.5% to 27.7 billion yen while revenues in marketing and promotion business surged 44.4% to 13 billion yen from a year ago.

Kanamoto Co., Ltd declined 3.4% to 2,755 yen after the construction machinery provider reported net sales in the year ending in October jumped 6.2% to 133.29 billion yen.

Net income in the year increased 2.8% to 9.56 billion yen and earnings per share rose to 266.27 yen from 258.02 yen from the previous year.

Kanamoto expects net sales to decline 0.5% to 68 billion yen and net income to fall 12% to 5.75 billion yen in the first half of fiscal 2016.

The construction machinery provider forecasted net sales for the fiscal 2016 to rise 0.5% to 133.90 billion yen and net income to increase 7% to 10.23 billion yen.

Miraial Co., Ltd edged up 0.08% to 1,205 yen after the silicon wafers maker said net sales in the third-quarter ending in October declined 11.4% from a year ago to 6.33 billion yen.

Net income in the year plunged 36.3% to 448 million yen and earnings per share slumped to 49.89 yen from 78.36 yen a year ago.

The company estimated net sales for the fourth-quarter to drop 13.9% to 8.09 billion yen and net income to plummet 40.2% to 460 million yen.