Weak Earnings at Isuzu, Nikon, Inpex

Mayank Mehta
05 Aug, 2009
New York City

Stocks in Japan edged lower on weak earnings from NTT, Nikon and Isuzu. Inpex, the crude oil refiner quarterly profit plunged 48%. Fast Retailing dropped after same store sales at one of its retail chains declined in July.

[R]8:00 PM Tokyo, 7:00 AM New York – Stocks in Japan edged lower on weak earnings from NTT, Nikon and Isuzu. Inpex, the crude oil refiner quarterly profit plunged 48%.[/R]

Broader market index declined after rising for two weeks on weak earnings from Isuzu, NTT and Nikon.

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed lower 122.48 or 1.18% to 10,252.53.

Gainers & Losers

Inpex increased 0.14% 736,000 yen after it estimated first half sales of 720 billion yen and net income of 56 billion yen. Net income decreased to 25.99 billion yen from 49.77 billion yen a year ago.

Isuzu decreased 4.7% to 163 yen after first quarter sales declined 60% to 187 billion yen and net loss of 16.6 billion yen.

Fast Retailing dropped 3.5% to 11,400 yen after it reported same store sales decline at Uniqlo in July.

Mitsui & Co led the most active stocks in Tokyo and increased 1.9% to 1,271 yen.

NTT declined after revenues declined 3.5% to 2.5 trillion and net income before taxes decreased 16% to 325 billion yen.

Nikon after it reported fiscal first quarter revenues declined 26.4% to 175.14 billion yen and quarterly loss of 4 billion yen. The camera maker estimated 30.2% decline in revenues to 340 billion and 19.3% decrease to 710 billion yen.

Toyota Motor Corp decreased 1.2% to 3,980 yen after it revised its unit sales forecast yesterday.
Yamaha dropped 5.3% to 1,038 yen in addition to losing 10% yesterday after it reported fiscal first quarter revenues declined 19.3% to 99.4 billion yen and net loss of 2.9 billion yen compared to 1.06 billion yen a year ago.
Nikkei 200 Average Movers

Furukawa Co Ltd led the decliners in the Nikkei 225 index of 6.0% followed by losses in Furukawa Electric Co Ltd of 6.0%, in JTEKT Corp of 5.9%, in Meidensha Corp of 5.8% and in CSK Holdings Corp of 5.5%.

Shionogi & Co Ltd led gainers in the Nikkei 225 index with a rise of 4.5% followed by gains in Taiheiyo Cement Corp of 4.0%, in Marui Group Co Ltd 3.8% and Nippon Paper Group Inc of 3.0%.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed lower 122.48 or 1.18% to 10,252.53, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong decreased 301.66 or 1.45% to 20,494.77 and CSI 300 index in China lower 45.68 or 1.21% to 3,740.94. ASX 200 index in Australia decreased 44.80 or 1.04% to 4,264.50. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia closed lower 0.39 or 0.03% to 1,179.49.

The Kospi Index in South Korea decreased 6.90 or 0.44% to close at 1,559.47. SET index in Thailand closed lower 1.07 or 0.17% to 640.16 and JSE Index in Indonesia decreased 43.03 or 1.82% to 2,317.06. The Sensex index in India increased 72.85 or 0.46% to 15,903.83.