Nikkei Rises 1.5%

123jump.com Staff
03 Apr, 2008
New York City

A rally in commodities and trading companies lifted stocks in Japan. Financial and property stocks gained for the second day in a row. Nikkei 225 rose 1.52% or 200.54 to 13,389.90, while the broader Topix Index increased 1.4% or 17.57 at 1,299.64. Nippon Suisan led gainers in the Nikkei 225 index with a rise of 8.8% followed by rises in Sojitz Corp. of 7.40%, in Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group Holdings of 7%, in Obayashi Corp. of 6.8%, and T&D Holdings Inc of 6.6%.

[R]5:00AM New York, 7:00PM Tokyo – A rally in metals and oil lifts stocks in Japan. Toshiba wins orders to build multi-billion nuclear reactors in the U.S.[/R]

Japan stock averages rose on a rally in commodities, crude oil and a rise in trading companies. Banks and financial companies gained for the second day in a row.

Market Sentiment

In Tokyo trading Nikkei 225 rose 1.52% or 200.54 to 13,389.90, while the broader Topix Index increased 1.4% or 17.57 at 1,299.64.

In the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange 9.5 billion shares worth 1 trillion yen were traded and in the second section 150 million shares valued at 2.7 billion yen changed hands.

Of the Nikkei 225 stocks 177 gained, 42 declined and 6 were unchanged. Nippon Suisan led advancers in the Nikkei 225 index shares with a rise of 8.77% followed by increases in Sojitz Corp of 7.40%.

Commodity prices rise

Crude oil futures surged $3 while crude oil after the U.S. Energy Department showed a bigger-than-expected fall in crude oil and gasoline inventories.

Gold prices also rose but remained below the $900 a troy ounce level on expectations that current rally in the dollar against the euro will stall.

U.S. companies added 8,000 jobs in March

ADP Employer Services reported on its Web site yesterday in its National Employment Report that nonfarm private employment increased by 8,000 in March from previous month on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Employment in February was revised up 5,000 to a decline of 18,000. However the report noted that the fractional increase of 8,000 in March reflects a marked deceleration of employment growth from previous levels.

The report also observed that employment in the service-providing sector of the economy increased 85,000, while employment in the goods-producing sector fell for the sixth consecutive month to 77,000.

Manufacturing employment fell for the nineteenth straight month to 58,000 in March.

Employment for large businesses- those with more than 500 workers- saw employment decline to 52,000, while employment among small-size businesses, those with fewer than 50 workers, advanced 55,000 during the month from a revised 16,000 in February.

Among medium-size businesses employment increased just 5,000 with between 50 and 499 workers.

ADP Employer Services showed that construction employment fell for the sixteenth time to 22,000 in March.

Government to propose BOJ post

The Nikkei news reported, that Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said today that the government will propose a new nominee for the Bank of Japan governor before the Group of Seven finance officials'' meeting scheduled at the end of next week in Washington.

Gainers & Losers

Nippon Suisan led gainers in the Nikkei 225 index shares with a rise of 8.77% followed by rises in Sojitz Corp. of 7.40%, in Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group Holdings of 7.04%, in Obayashi Corp. of 6.82%, and T&D Holdings Inc of 6.63%.

Energy stocks rose after a rebound in crude oil prices. Nippon Oil edged up 6.20% and Inpex Holdings climbed 4.50%.

Fukuoka Financial led decliners in the Nikkei 225 index shares with a drop of 4.34% followed by losses in Dainippon Sumitomo of 3.42%, in Okuma Corp. of 2.49%, in Kao Corp. of 2.17%, and Marui Corp of 2.13%.

Carmakers also fell as Nomura Holdings cut its recommendation of Toyota Motor Corp from “buy” to “neutral” and lowered its rating for Honda Motor Corp and Fuji Heavy Industries to “reduce” from “neutral”.

Morgan Stanley also cut its profit target for carmakers as well on rising expectation that the demand in the U.S. will slow. The International Monetary Fund yesterday cut its forecast for U.S. growth this year to 0.5% from 1.5% predicted in January.

Company news Toshiba

Bloomberg news reported that Toshiba’s spokesman Keisuke Oomori is in talks to supply two AP-1000 reactors one each to Scana Corp. and Southern Co, adding that it hopes to win at least 16 orders to build AP-1000 nuclear reactors in the U.S.

The stock closed up 6%.