Japan Indexes Erase Morning Gains; Tokio Marine and MS&AD Soar

Akira Ito
21 May, 2024
Tokyo

Stocks in Tokyo struggled to advance after erasing gains in the morning session ahead of key economic releases. 

Benchmark indexes in Tokyo eased by 0.2% as investors awaited the release of consumer price inflation and international trade data. 

Market sentiment turned cautious after the morning rally in tech stocks failed to broaden to the financial, industrial, and automobile sectors due to the persistent weakness in the yen. 

The yen declined to 156.45 against the U.S. dollar in late afternoon trading in Tokyo on the worries that, despite tough talks from the ministry of finance and the Bank of Japan,. 

Traders are targeting the yen to trade between 165 yen and 170 yen against the U.S. dollar, as the Bank of Japan is not in a hurry to increase its policy rate and the U.S. Federal Reserve is likely to keep its current rates in pace in the near future. 

 

Japan Stock Movers 

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average decreased 0.2% to 39,014.70, and the Topix index fell 0.2% to 2,763.60. 

Tech stocks cut early gains in the late afternoon as investors worried about the negative impact of the persistent decline in the yen. 

Tokyo Electron, Advantest, Disco Corp., and Screen Holdings gained between 0.5% and 2.4%. 

Sumitomo Mitsui gained 1.4%, Mitsubishi UFJ declined 0.9%, and Mizuho Financial dropped 2.4%. 

Tokio Marine advanced 2.6% to ¥5,096.0 after the insurance company said it plans to buy back up to 200 billion yen worth of its own stock. 

MS&AD Insurance soared 14.5% to ¥3,172.0 despite the company reporting fourth-quarter results that fell short of the company's estimates. 

Net income in the March quarter was 87.67 billion yen, compared to a projection of 193.66 billion yen.

Revenue in the fiscal year 2024 rose 25.2% to 6.5 trillion from 5.2 trillion yen, net profit advanced to 369.2 billion yen from 211 billion yen, and diluted earnings per share rose to 231.77 yen from 130.50 yen. 

The company increased its fourth-quarter dividend to 150 yen from 100 yen, and its total annual dividend rose to 270 yen from 200 yen a year ago. 

Sompo Holdings, Daikin Industries, and T&D Holdings fell between 3% and 6%.