Hitachi Plunges; Nikon, Olympus, NTT Rise

123jump.com Staff
13 May, 2009
New York City

Earnings outlook and global economic worries dominated trading in Tokyo. Nissan reported sales decline and net loss but estimated smaller loss in the current year. Olympus and Citizen Holdings increased after it estimated net income in the current year. Hitachi Ltd plunged 10%.

[R]6:00PM Tokyo – Earnings outlook and global economic worries dominated trading in Tokyo. Nissan reported sales decline and net loss but estimated smaller loss in the current year. Olympus and Citizen Holdings increased after it estimated net income in the current year. Hitachi Ltd plunged after it reported wider than expected loss.[/R]

Cautious investors selected stocks in Tokyo trading as the benchmark indexes closed higher. The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 41.88 or 0.45% to 9,340.49.

Defensive stocks gained as more investors debate the prospect of global economic recovery and valuations of stocks in Japan and other developed countries. Pharmaceuticals, telecom and consumer related stocks edged up in nervous trading.

NTT DoCoMo Inc gained 4% to 141,000 yen, Fuji Film Holding increased 5.4% to 2,660 yen and Kirin Holdings added 3.4% to 1,181 yen. Takeda Pharmaceuticals added 2.4% to 3,810 yen and Astellas Pharmaceuticals increased 2.1% to 3,400 yen.

Olympus jumped 13% to 1,943 after it said net revenues in the fiscal 2009 ending in March dropped 13% to 980 billion yen and net loss of 114 billion yen. The company estimated in fiscal 2010 net revenues to declined 8% to 900 billion yen and estimated profit of 40 billion yen. Sales in the medical segment increased 10% but in the imaging division that includes camera sales declined 30%.

Nikon Corp increased 2.9% to 1,480 yen after it said sales in fiscal 2009 ending in March declined 8% to 879 billion yen and net income fell 63% to 28 billion yen. Net income per share declined to 67.91 yen compared to 181.23 yen per share a year ago.

Hitachi Ltd plunged 10.8% to 340 yen after it reported net revenues declined 12% to 1o trillion yen and net loss surged to 787 billion yen. Net loss per share surged from 17.77 yen to 236.87 yen a share.

Casio Computer dropped 5.6% to 784 yen after it reported net loss of 23.1 billion yen after the close yesterday.

Citizens Holdings Company surged 9.2% to 513 yen after it estimated net income in the current fiscal year.

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd increased 6.3% to 542 yen after it reported sales declined 22.1% to 8.436 trillion yen and net loss of 233 billion yen compared to profit of 482 billion yen. For the current fiscal year net revenues are expected to decline to 6.95 trillion yen and net loss of 170 billion yen.

Nissan total unit sales declined 9.5% to 3.411 million vehicles worldwide in fiscal year 2008. In North America, sales were 1.133 million units, down 16.2%; United States sales were 856,000 units, down 19.1%. In Japan, sales were 612,000 units, down 15.1%. In Europe, sales came to 530,000 units, down 16.7%.

Earnings Review

Casio Computer Co. Ltd, the maker of Exilim cameras and G-Shock watches reported full-year sales fell 17% to ¥518 billion from ¥623.1 billion a year ago. Net loss was ¥23.1 billion or ¥83.62 per diluted share compared to net income of ¥12.2 billion or ¥44.15 per share a year ago.

Olympus Corporation, engaged in the manufacturing and selling of precision machineries and instruments reported full-year sales fell 13% to ¥980.8 billion from ¥1.13 trillion a year ago. Net loss was ¥114.8 billion compared to net income of ¥57.9 billion a year ago.

Shinsei Bank, Limited, the Japan-based financial institution reported full-year sales rose 1.4% to ¥601.68 billion from ¥593.50 billion a year ago. Net loss was ¥143.1 billion or ¥72.85 per diluted share compared to net income of ¥60.11 billion or ¥32.44 per share a year ago.

Nikkei 200 Average Movers

Hitachi, Ltd. led the decliners in the Nikkei 225 index of 10.7% followed by losses in Daiichii Sankyo Company, Limited of 8.0%, in Nitto Boseki Co Ltd. of 6.7%, in Mitsubishi Motors Corp of 5.8% and in Casio Computer Co Ltd of 5.6%.

Olympus Corp led gainers in the Nikkei 225 index with a rise of 12.8% followed by gains in Citizens Holding Company. of 9.1%, in Toppan Printing Co Ltd, of 7.8% and Taiheiyo Cement Corp. of 7.6%.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 41.88 or 0.45% to 9,340.49, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong decreased 94.02 or 0.55% closed to 17,059.62, CSI 300 index in China higher 25.44 or 0.91% closed to 2,814.00. ASX 200 index in Australia decreased 21.10 or 0.54% closed to 3,856.10. The KL Composite index in Malaysia lower 0.18 or 0.02% closed to 1,022.84.

The Kospi Index in South Korea increased 11.01 or 0.78% to close at 1,414.52. SET index in Thailand closed higher 8.17 or 1.50% to 552.71 and JSE Index in Indonesia increased 9.31 or 0.51% closed to 1,851.33. The Sensex index in India decreased 138.38 or 1.14% closed to 12,019.65.