Tokyo Stocks Rally

123jump.com Staff
23 Mar, 2009
New York City

Tokyo stocks surged 3.4% after government proposed to invest 3 trillion yen to improve government services and provides better automation and electronic access. Cabinet office reported today in its business outlook survey condition that deteriorated in three months to March.

[R]5:00AM New York, 7:00PM Tokyo - Japan’s manufacturing sentiment drops in March quarter. Japan proposes to invest 3 trillion yen in IT over 3 years.[/R]

Japan stocks gained 3.4% as optimism the country will introduce further stimulus measures offset a government report that indicated manufacturing sentiment fell markedly in the three months to March.

In Tokyo trading Nikkei 225 index rose 3.4% or 269.57 to 8,215.53, and the broader Topix Index advanced 3.5% or 26.79 to 791.56.

In the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange 24 billion shares worth 1.5 trillion yen were traded and in the second section 276 million shares valued at 2.9 billion yen changed hands.

Of the Nikkei 225 index stocks, 216 advanced, 7 dropped, and 2 were unchanged. CSK Holdings Corp. led gainers in the index shares with a rise of 29.4% followed by Pioneer Corp increasing 12.8%.

Manufacturing Sentiment Drops

Japan’s cabinet office reported today in its business outlook survey condition that deteriorated to –51.3 points in the three months to March in all industries, but rose 4.5 points for medium enterprises and fell to –52.9 points for small enterprises in the period.

Manufacturing conditions plummeted to –66 points for large enterprises, while medium enterprises dipped to -69 points and small enterprises slipped to -72.4 points.

The survey notes that business conditions for non-manufacturing industries declined to –42.6 points in the March quarter and –45.8 points for medium-sized enterprises.

The index for non-manufacturing small-scale enterprises dropped to –48.8 points.

Japan to Invest 3 trillion yen into IT over 3 yrs

Japan’s Cabinet Office reported on Saturday government plans to inject an additional 3 trillion yen into information technology in the next three years to boost growth in public and private sectors.

Government forecasts that the investment will create between 400,000 and 500,000 jobs and could boost the economy by 4.7 trillion yen.

The emergency plan will be formalized in April and will invest in three major projects- electronic central and local government, health care and education and human resources.

According to the report, government plans to appropriate cost savings made from reducing paper documentation into new infrastructural investment and the utilization of non regular employees.

Land Prices Drop 8%

Nikkei News reported today that the country’s overall land prices fell more than 8% as of January 1.

Separately Japan Chain Stores Association said today supermarket sales across the nation fell 5.4% in February from the same period a year ago.

Gainers & Losers

CSK Holdings Corp. led advancers in the Nikkei 225 index shares with a rise of 29.4% followed by increases in Pioneer Corp. of 12.8%, in IHI Corp of 11.8%, in Mitsui & Co. of 10.6%, and Nippon Light Metal of 10.5%.

Unitika Ltd. led decliners in the Nikkei 225 index shares with a fall of 4.4% followed by losses in Clarion Co. Ltd. of 2.3%, in NSK Ltd. of 1.3%, in NTT Data Corp. of 0.9%, and Konami Corp. of 0.3%.