DoCoMo Acquires a Stake in Bangladesh

123jump.com Staff
16 Jun, 2008
New York City

Stocks in Japan advanced as worries over inflation eased after crude oil prices slumped on speculation that Saudi Arabia will increase oil output. A weakening yen also helped buoy exporters. NTT acquires a minority stake of 30% in Bangladesh based mobile carrier with nearly 7 million subscribers. GS Yuasa Corp. led advancers in the Nikkei 225 index shares with a rise of 10.60% followed by increases in Mitsumi Electric Co. of 7.3%.

[R]5:00AM New York, 7:00PM Tokyo - Falling yen boost Tokyo stocks. Household financial assets fall 3.6% in March. NTT DoCoMo acquires a stake in Bangldesh cmobile carrier.[/R]

Stocks in Japan advanced as worries over inflation eased after crude oil prices slumped on speculation that Saudi Arabia will increase oil output. A weakening yen also helped buoy exporters. NTT acquires a minority stake in an Bangladesh based mobile carrier.

Market sentiment

In Tokyo trading Nikkei 225 rose 2.72% or 380.64 at 14,354.37, and the broader Topix Index gained 2.2% or 30.12 at 1,409.61.

In the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange 8.4 billion shares worth 872 billion yen were traded and in the second section 241 million shares valued at 3.6 billion yen changed hands.

Of the Nikkei 225 stocks 207 rose, 17 declined, and 1 was unchanged. GS Yuasa Corp. led advancers in the index shares with a rise of 10.60% followed by increases in Mitsumi Electric Co. of 7.28%.

G8 Finance ministers raise concern over rising farmers

The G8 Finance Ministers said in a statement on Saturday in Osaka, Japan that uncertainty and downside risks were still present on the global market, and also expressed concern over rising commodity prices.

Finance ministers also urged oil-producing countries to increase production.

The Group of 8 nations in a statement noted, “We have strong concerns about the sharp rise in oil prices, which have surpassed past peaks in both nominal and real terms, and the impacts on global macro-economic stability as well as people’s welfare and development prospects. To meet the challenge, on the demand side, energy efficiency of all economies should be further improved and diversification of the energy sources pursued.”

Countries were also urged to enhance their refinery capacity.

Household financial assets fall 3.6% in March

The Nikkei news reported today on its website that according to preliminary fund circulation data by the Bank of Japan the value of financial assets held by Japanese households declined 3.6% to 1.48 trillion yen from a year earlier.

Gainers & Losers

GS Yuasa Corp. led advancers in the Nikkei 225 index shares with a rise of 10.60% followed by increases in Mitsumi Electric Co. of 7.28%, in Tokyo Dome Corp. of 7.24%, in Toyota Tsusho of 6.91%, and Chiyoda Corp. of 6.56%.

GS Yuasa Corp. rose after the Nikkei news reported that Mitsubishi Motors will partner with France''s PSA Peugeot Citroen to make electric cars.

Exporters advanced as the yen plummeted to 108.27 against the dollar. Nikon Corp increased 2.96%, Toyota Motor Corp. gained 2.91% and Sony rose 2.69%.

Domestic related stocks rose on easing inflation worries and crude oil prices fell.

Realty stocks advanced as well. Tokyu Land Corp. edged up 4.86%.

Inpex Holdings led decliners in the Nikkei 225 index shares with a fall of 3.76% followed by losses in Nippon Oil Corp. of 1.77%, in Aeon Co. Ltd of 1.14%, in Tokyo Gas Co. of 0.95%, and Sekisui House of 0.91%.

Inpex dropped as crude oil for July delivery fell as much as 0.7% to $133.96 a barrel in on expectations Saudi Arabia will increase production.


NTT DoCoMo acquires 30% stake in Bangladeshi mobile carrier

NTT DoCoMo acquires 30% stake in TM Iinternational (Bangladesh) Ltd. for $350 million from A.K.Khan & Co. Ltd. The company is majority owned by Malaysian carrier TM international Bhd with a stake of 70%.

The Bangladesh carrier provides GSM mobile wireless service under the brand name Aktel with a subscriber base of 6.5 million that is growing at a rate of 60% annually. Six telecom operators provide services to more than 35 million subscribers in a nation where Grameenphone leads the market with a market share of 16.5 million subscribers.

NTT DoCoMo is the largest mobile service provider in Japan with a market share of 50% or 53 million subscribers but has been struggling to add new subscribers in the face of price competition from Softbank Mobile Corp.