Japan Auto Sales Drop 28%

123jump.com Staff
05 Feb, 2009
New York City

January new car sales in Japan drop 28% on weak consumer demand and tight lending. Sales of Toyota fell 23.4%, at Nissan and Honda declined 31%. Mini-cars sales which are more than 70% of total sales declined 5.6%. Casio lowered its earnings estimate by 90%. NTT nine months sales edged 1.4%.

[R]5:00AM New York, 7:00PM Tokyo - New car sales in Japan drop 28% in January. Casio Computers revises full-year profit forecast by 88.9% to 1.5 billion yen for the full year ending March 2009. NTT nine months sales edged lower but earnings surged on accounting related items.[/R]

Japan stock indexes fell on mounting concern of continued earnings downgrade from Japanese companies.

Casio Computers yesterday revised downwards its full-year earnings forecast by 88.9% to 1.5 billion yen. Rising yen and falling demand in the U.S. and Europe dragged the earnings lower.

In Tokyo trading Nikkei 225 index fell 1.1% or 89.29 to 7,949.65, and the broader Topix Index Index slid 0.8% or 6.37 to 786.41.

In the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange 10 billion shares worth 660 billion yen were traded and in the second section 115 million shares valued at 993 million yen changed hands.

Of the Nikkei 225 index stocks, 68 rose, 145 declined, and 12 were unchanged. Sumitomo Metal Industries led gainers in the index shares with a rise of 11.6% followed by Bridgestone Corp. rising 8.3%.

Japan''s New Car Sales Fall 27.9 to 174,281 in January

Automobile Dealers Association reported that sales of new cars, trucks and buses- excluding sales of mini-cars- in Japan dropped 27.9% to 174,281 units in January, which is the lowest in 37 years.

Toyota sales, including Lexus, declined 23.4%, while sales that excluded Lexus brand slipped 22.5% to 81,985 units. Lexus sales plunged 57.7% to 1,270 units.

Sales for Nissan vehicles dropped 31.1% to 30,786 units, while Honda sales declined 30.7% to 22,087 units. Mazda shed 34.5% to 10,701 units, and Mitsubishi sales tumbled 53.9% to 2,988.

The report said Subaru sales slid 28.2%to 4,088, and Suzuki fell 17.1% to 4,557 vehicles units.

Separately, Japan Mini Vehicles Association said sales in mini-cars fell 5.6% to 127,426 units in January.

Casio Computers Revises Full-Year Forecast by 88.9% to 1.5 billion yen

Casio Computer reported today that it has downgraded its full-year earnings profit forecast by 88.9% to 1.5 billion yen from the previous projection of 13.5 billion yen as revenues are expected to plunge 6.9% to 540 billion yen.

Operating income is projected to dip 53.3% to 14 billion yen from 30 billion yen projected earlier.

Sales of watches, electronic dictionaries and electronic calculators are stable but earnings are affected by the anticipated decline in prices for digital cameras and electronic components as well as a decline in European currencies.

Gainers & Losers

Sumitomo Metal Industries led advancers in the Nikkei 225 index shares with a rise of 11.6% followed by increases in Bridgestone Corp. of 8.3%, in Kawasaki Kisen of 7.9%, in Furukawa Co. Ltd of 7.4%, and NSK Ltd of 5.7%.

Commodity stocks advanced as metal prices rallied on expectations that demand from China will rebound as Beijing plans cutting rates and duties on raw materials. Gold prices increased $9.70 to $902 per ounce.

Sumitomo Metal Mining rose 3.6% and Nippon Mining House climbed 2.9%.

Shipping lines increased as the Baltic Dry Index, which measures freight charges of raw materials, soared 15%. Nippon Yusen increased 5.3% and Mitsui OSK Lines advanced 5.1%.

Trend Micro led decliners in the Nikkei 225 index shares with a drop of 7.1% followed by losses in Nippon Soda Co. of 7%, in Chiba Bank of 5.4%, in OKI Electrical Industries of 5.3%, and Konami Corp. of 5.2%.

NTT Nine- Month Profit Rises 70%

Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. reported today that its net profit rose 70% to 544.1 billion yen in the nine months to December 31 from 320.9 billion in the comparable year ago period.

However, fixed line revenues dropped 1.4% to 7.73 trillion yen. The full year earnings forecast was left unchanged.