Tokyo Stocks Pointing Higher; Sony Cuts Prices

123jump.com Staff
18 Aug, 2009
New York City

Tokyo stocks are likely to edge higher in the early trading after the strength in world markets. The unexpected surge in confidence index in Germany and better than expected single family home permits in the U.S. is expected to support the market opening.

[R]5:30 PM New York, 6:30 AM Tokyo – Tokyo stocks are likely to edge higher in the early trading after the strength in world markets. The unexpected surge in confidence index in Germany and better than expected single family home permits in the U.S. is expected to support the market opening.[/R]

The rebound in European and American markets is expected to lift market indexes in Tokyo and Asia in today’s trading. Better than expected data on the U.S. housing market is expected to support buyers in the early morning trading.

The PPI index in the U.S. decreased 0.9% in July after increasing 1.8% in June and 0.2% in May. For the one year period ending in July, the prices for finished goods dropped 6.8%, intermediate goods decreased 15.1% and petroleum products plunged 44.8%.

Building permits in July decreased 1.8% but single family permits increased 5.8% from the revised June data. Housing starts decreased 1% in July and plunged 37.7% from a year ago. Housing completions in the month decreased 0.9% and fell 26.4% from a year month.

Gainers & Losers

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 16.35 or 0.16% to 10,284.96 in Tuesday’s trading. Of the stocks in the index, 98 increased, 111 decreased and 16 closed unchanged.

Japan Department Stores Association sales declined 11.7% in July from a year ago. The lack of sales was blamed on poor weather, weak job market and consumer sentiment.

Isetan Mitsukoshi edged up 0.1% to 961 yen and J Front Retailing decreased 0.6% to 498 yen.

Weak commodities prices dragged trading companies lower. Mitsubishi Corp fell 3% to 1,865 yen, Sumitomo Metal Mining & Company edged lower 1% to 1,435 yen and Mitsui Mining & Smelting dropped 0.7% to 288 yen. Marubeni Corp edged up 0.7% to 458 yen.

Toyota Motors added 0.8% to 4,040 yen after it lifted its global production target by 150,000 units in the current fiscal year according to the news reported on Nikkei.

Sumitomo Mitsui Construction surged 13% and was third best gainer on the TSE trading and IHI Corp increased 0.6% to 175 yen after the company and Sumitomo Mitsui consortium won 40 billion yen project in Vietnam. Nikkei news reported the contract on its Web site.

NTT DoCoMo surged 2.5% to 142,400 yen after an analyst at Mizuho Securities raised the rating on the telecom carrier on the rising revenues from wireless internet access. The news was first reported by Bloomberg.

Sony Corp cut its retail price for a new and slimmer version of PS 3 to be released in two weeks. The company announced the new product at a conference in Germany that will also consume one third less power.

The new product will be sold at 299 euros in Europe and 29,980 yen in Japan and $299 in the U.S. The revised price will lower the gap with Nintendo Co and Microsoft products that are leading the market in sales. The company is targeting worldwide sales of 13 million the current fiscal year ending in June 2010.

Nikkei 200 Average Movers

Mitsui Chemicals Inc led the decliners in the Nikkei 225 index of 3.9% followed by losses in Fujikura Ltd of 3.2%, in Mitsubishi Corp of 2.9%, in Sumitomo Chemical Co Ltd of 2.5% and in Sumitomo Chemical Co Ltd of 2.5%.

Casio Computer Co Ltd led gainers in the Nikkei 225 index with a rise of 7.1% followed by gains in Denki Kagaku Kogyo K.K. of 5.2%, in Trend Micro Inc of 4.6% and Konica Minolta Holdings Inc of 4.2%.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 16.35 or 0.16% to 10,284.96, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong increased 168.62 or 0.84% to 20,306.27 and CSI 300 index in China higher 31.72 or 1.01% to 3,171.99. ASX 200 index in Australia decreased 6.80 or 0.15% to 4,381.60. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia closed lower 4.64 or 0.40% to 1,164.41.

The Kospi Index in South Korea increased 3.18 or 0.21% to close at 1,550.24. SET index in Thailand closed higher 8.20 or 1.30% to 640.25 and JSE Index in Indonesia decreased 49.88 or 2.09% to 2,336.99. The Sensex index in India increased 250.34 or 1.69% to 15,035.26.

North American Markets

Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 82.60 or 0.9% to a close of 9,217.94, S&P 500 Index increased 9.94 or 1% to 989.67, and Nasdaq Composite Index edged higher 25.08 or 1.3% to close at 1,955.92. Toronto TSX Composite Index increased 142.25 or 1.40% to 10,673.84.