Earnings and Yen Weakness Dominate Market Sentiment In Tokyo Trading, Furukawa Electric and Obayashi Jump

Akira Ito
14 May, 2024
Tokyo

Market indexes in Tokyo edged higher in nervous trading as the yen struggled to hold above the flatline. 

The Nikkei 225 and the Topix inched higher in active trading following the lackluster trading in the previous session. 

The movement in the yen and the latest batch of earnings dominated market sentiment in Tokyo. 

The yen gained 0.45 to 146.58 against the U.S. dollar as traders continued to bet against the yen on the wide gap between the U.S. and Japan bond yields. 

Traders in Tokyo are estimating the yen to resume its steady decline after two days of suspected intervention last week that cost the Bank of Japan at least $35 billion. 

The trading sentiment in the Japanese yen is driven by the expectations of the U.S. interest rates staying higher for longer and the Bank of Japan in no hurry to lift its policy rate much higher from the current rate near zero. 

 

Japan Stock Movers 

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 0.4% to 38,333.17, and the Topix gained 0.2% to 2,729.78. 

Tech stocks were in focus following the slight rebound in tech stocks in overnight trading in New York. 

Tokyo Electron decreased 0.4%, Advantest rose 2.6%, Screen Holdings dropped 2.6%, and Socionext fell 2.2%. 

Sumitomo Mitsui Fudosan, Mitsubishi UFJ, and Mizuho Financial edged up between 0.2% and 0.6%. 

Toyota Motor, Honda Motor, and Nissan Motor gained between 0.1% and 1.3%. 

Furukawa Electric soared 18.6% to ¥4,092.0 after the company reported financial results that were ahead of market expectations. 

Revenue in the fiscal year 2024 ending in March declined 0.9% to 1.056 trillion yen from 1.06 trillion yen, net income attributable to shareholders decreased to 6.5 billion yen from 15.6 billion yen, and earnings per share fell to 92.40 yen from 225.80 yen a year ago. 

Obayashi Corp. increased 13.4% to ¥1,901.0 after the construction company reported a strong increase in annual sales. 

Revenue in the fiscal year 2024 ending in March rose 17.2% to 2.3 trillion yen, net income attributable to shareholders rose to 75 billion yen, and consolidated orders received 13.1% to 2.5 trillion yen.