Property Stocks Led Tokyo Lower

123jump.com Staff
05 Sep, 2001
New York City

Property stocks led Tokyo market lower. The volatile index has been trading lower in the last three sessions as uncertainty in the U.S. housing sector hobble investor interest. Low trading volume persists in Tokyo trading for the last two months. Sony jumped after the news that it plans to sell a stake in its financial service subsidiary for 332 billion yen in public offering.Commercial real estate stocks are likely to fall further if investors lose interest in Japan property market.

[R]7:00AM New York, 8:00PM Tokyo - Japanese stocks declined Wednesday weighed by continued investor worries over U.S. linked subprime mortgage market problems. Yen continues firm against dollar.[/R]

Shares in Japan extended losses started Monday on persistent U.S housing market concerns. Tokyo slumped 1.6% today adding to losses of 0.3% and 0.63% reported Monday and Tuesday. Of the 225 Nikkei shares 202 dropped, 18 gained while 5 remained unchanged. Of the index shares 10 stocks lost over 4%.

In Tokyo trading Nikkei 225 sank 1.6% or 262.02 at 16,158.45 in thin volume. Investors sold property and other domestic-oriented shares, as exporters dragged on a firming yen. The yen gained to 115.92 against the dollar from 116.33 yesterday, rising also to 157.56 per euro from 158.26 Tuesday.

The Government Pension Investment Fund reported Tuesday second quarter investment profit rose to 2.38 trillion yen on a revised yield of 2.8%. The stronger profit growth before subtracting commissions and other expenses was helped by higher local and overseas stock markets, said the Fund.

Of the Nikkei 225 shares, real estate stocks dropped most. Tokyo Dome led decliners falling 5.03% followed by land developer, Sumitomo Realty ending down 4.9% while Heiwa Real Estate lost 4.4%. ALPS Electric Co Ltd and Sojitz Corp fell 4.2% each. Mitsui Fudason Co Ltd fell 4.14% with Kumagai Gumi Co Ltd falling 4.12%. Paper manufacturing share fell. Hokuetsu Paper eased 4.10%, Nippon Paper Gro down 3.9%, while Mitsubishi Paper and OJI Paper Co Ltd closed lower 3.8% and 3.63% respectively.

Of the index shares technology and auto parts producers gained. Showa Denko KK paced advancers rising 2.9% followed by Sony Corp up 2.32%. Fuji Heavy Industries rose 2.1%, JTEKT Corp up 1.8% while Yahoo Japan Corp added 1.51%. NEC Corp and Konami Corp surged 1.45% and 1.43%.

French financial group, BNP Paribas announced Tuesday it had sold its 12% stake in Nova Corp for 240 million yen to unnamed buyers. The group has also notified Japanese authorities of the deal, local media reported said Wednesday. BNP Paribas sold 8 million shares through after-market transactions last Thursday for 30 yen per share, compared with the purchase price of 71 yen. Osaka based Nova ended last Wednesday at 30 yen on the Jasdaq market for emerging companies.

McDonald's Co (Japan) Ltd reported Wednesday August sales hit a high 46.4 billion yen, topping a monthly record of 43.1 billion yen reported in March. The growth was driven by resumption of sales of Mega Mac giant hamburger on a limited basis and promotion of the McFlurry ice cream menu, said the fast food retailer.