Yen Rises to 4-Month High

123jump.com Staff
09 Jul, 2009
New York City

Japan stocks fell after yen advanced for the sixth month in a row. Strong yen may crimp earnings of exporters in the current quarter. The retailer Bic Camera declined after its nine months profit plunged 57%. Fast Retailing estimated full year profit to rise 6.3%.

[R]7:00 PM Tokyo, 5:00 AM New York – Japan stocks fell after yen advanced for the sixth month in a row. Strong yen may crimp earnings of exporters in the current quarter. The retailer Bic Camera declined after its nine months profit plunged 57%. Fast Retailing estimated full year profit to rise 6.3%.[/R]

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed lower 129.69 or 1.38% to 9,291.06 and yen rose to as high as 91.85 to a dollar but closed at 93.00 yen to a dollar.

Interest rate on 10-year Japanese government bond increased 0.01% to 1.295%.

Gainers & Losers

Of the Nikkei 225 Average, 23 increased, 193 declined and 9 were unchanged.

Toyota Motor was the most active stocks among the market cap leaders and Mizuho Financial led the gainers among most active stocks.

Toyo Tire & Rubber with a loss of 19% led the decliners on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and The Keihin Company led gainers with a rise of 19%.

Daiwa Securities Group declined 2.4% to 519 yen after the brokerage group lowered its target to raise funds on weak market response.

Bic Camera declined 5.1% to 36,100 yen after it reported profit decline of 57% for the nine months.

The Financial Services Agency asked three banks to file business plan as required by companies that receive government funds. The news was first reported by Nikkei. Shinsei Bank Ltd declined 3.6% to 133 yen, Aozora Bank Ltd dropped 4.6% to 125 yen and Chuo Mitsui fell 5.1% to 316 yen.

Earnings Review

Fast Retailing Co., Ltd., the clothing retailer said full-year sales expect to rise 6.3% to ¥682.0 billion. Net profit for the year expects to rise 19.5% to ¥52.0 billion and earnings per share expect to reach ¥510.55. Operating profit for the year expects to rise 23.4% to ¥108.0 billion.

Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan reported first half net profit increased to ¥1.61 billion from ¥609 million yen a year ago.

Sanyo Department Store first quarter profit plunged to ¥10 million from ¥119 million income a year ago.

Mainichi Comnet first half profit plunged to ¥212 from ¥538 million a year ago.

Nikkei 200 Average Movers

Clarion Co Ltd led the decliners in the Nikkei 225 index of 7.8% followed by losses in Fukuoka Financial Group Inc of 5.3%, in Furukawa Co Ltd of 5.3%, in Chuo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc of 5.1% and in Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co Ltd of 4.9%.

Toshiba Corp led gainers in the Nikkei 225 index with a rise of 3.6% followed by gains in Kansai Electric Power Co Inc of 2.0%, in Mitsumi Electric Co Ltd of 2.0% and NGK Insulators Ltd of 1.3%.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed lower 129.69 or 1.38% to 9,291.06, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong increased 69.52 or 0.39% to 17,790.59, CSI 300 index in China closed higher 44.04 or 1.31% to 3,396.30. ASX 200 index in Australia decreased 4.60 or 0.12% to 3,763.30. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia closed higher 0.21 or 0.02% to 1,065.68.

The Kospi Index in South Korea decreased 0.13 or 0.01% to close at 1,430.89. SET index in Thailand closed higher 6.12 or 1.06% to 581.99 and JSE Index in Indonesia increased 0.73 or 0.03% to 2,083.97. The Sensex index in India decreased 11.69 or 0.08% to 13,757.46.