December Trade Surplus Declines to 21%

123jump.com Staff
24 Jan, 2008
New York City

Stocks in Asia and Japan rebounded for the second day on the back of a rally in New York. Nikkei 225 surged 2.06% or 263.72 to 13,092.78. December trade surplus of Japan fell 21% to 888 billion yen compared to last year. For the year 2007 annual exports rose 11.6% and imports gained 8.6%. Trade surplus in 2007 rose 37% from year ago. Realty, banks, and export sensitive stocks gained for the second day in a row.

[R]5:00AM New York, 7:00PM Tokyo - Japan’s December trade surplus declined 20.9% from a year ago to 877.8 billion yen in December.[/R]

In Tokyo trading Nikkei 225 surged 2.06% or 263.72 to 13,092.78.

In the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange 10.8 billion shares worth 1.2 trillion yen were traded and in the second section 305 million shares valued at 4.9 billion yen changed hands.

Of the Nikkei 225 stocks 185 gained, 36 declined, and 3 were unchanged.

Buyers returned to the market and realty, export sensitive, and automobile companies led the gainers. Mitsui Fudosan led gainers with an advance of 10.05%.

Japan’s Ministry of Finance revealed on its website today that exports in Japan rose 6.9% from 6.9 trillion a year earlier to 7.4 trillion yen in December, while imports rose 12.1% year on year from 5.8 trillion yen to 6.5 trillion yen. Trade surplus in December fell 20.9% from 1.1 trillion yen from a year earlier to 877.9 billion yen.

Combined exports to China and Hong Kong in 2007 rose to 17.4 trillion yen, with exports to mainland China rising 19% to 12.8 trillion yen.

However exports to U.S. in 2007 fell for the first time in four years by 0.2% in 2007 to 16.9 trillion yen, ceding its biggest export market status for Japan’s shipments to China.

The finance ministry added that total exports in 2007 rose 11.6%to 83.9 trillion yen leveraged by shipments of cars, steel and telecommunications equipment. Conversely, imports rose by 8.6% to a record 72.12 trillion yen, driven by a 7.4% gain in crude oil imports.

December exports to the U.S. fell for the fourth straight month by 4.5% from a year earlier to 1.42 trillion yen and exports to China grew 8.4% in December to 1.16 trillion yen.

Exports to the European Union also declined to 2.4% rise in December from a year ago from 8.2% rise in November.

The Financial Times reported yesterday that New York Insurance Superintendent Eric Dinallo engaged banking executives yesterday in a bid to pool an initial capital of $5 billion to support specialist insurers known.

Dinallo ultimately intends to persuade financial institutions to commit as much as $15 billion to support insurance and help buffer against future losses and write-downs.

Analysts estimate that if bond insurers continue to lose ratings it will result in more than $200 billion in losses in CDO bonds will be forced on bank’s balance sheets.

Of the Nikkei 225 index shares Mitsui Fudosan led advancing stocks with a rise of 10.05% followed by gains of 9.59% in Daiwa House Industries, of 9.28% in Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, of 9.09% in Sumco Corporation, and of 8.62% in Chiyoda Corporation.

Tokyu Land Corp shed 8.45% and Mitsubishi Estate Company tumbled 8.37%.

Chiyoda Corporation rose after UBS AG upgraded the stock’s rating from “neutral” to “buy”, citing reduced raw material and labor costs.

Advantest Corporation led a decliners in Nikkei 225 index shares with a drop of 9.15% followed by losses of 5.93% in Nippon Paper Group, of 4.24% in Kikkoman Corporation, of 2.51% in Seven & I Holdings, and of 2.16% in Konica Minolta.

Advantest Corporation plunged after the Nikkei reported that the chipmakers operating profit might fall 40% in the current fiscal year ending in March 2008.