Japan Steel Stocks Lead Rally; Showa Shell Up

123jump.com Staff
07 Sep, 2009
New York City

Stocks in Tokyo rebounded after finance officials from G-20 nations pledged to keep global stimulus in place. Dollar edged lower against yen. Showa Shell plans to increase solar panel output ten-fold. Japan Steel Works estimates sharply higher China nuclear plant construction.

[R]8:00 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Tokyo rebounded after finance officials from G-20 nations pledged to keep global stimulus in place. Dollar edged lower against yen. Showa Shell plans to increase solar panel output ten-fold. Japan Steel Works estimates sharply higher China nuclear plant construction.[/R]

Stocks in Japan closed higher after a decline for four days in a row. Investors bid up stocks after meeting of financial officials and central bankers in London over the weekend agreed to keep stimulus in place.

Dollar declined against yen and metal prices increased in the regional trading.

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 133.83 or 1.31% to 10,320.94 in weak trading. Market trading was the lowest for the year.

Prime minister-designate Yukio Hatoyama reiterated his party’s commitment to lower greenhouse gases by 25% by 2020, significantly higher than 8% targeted by the outgoing leader Taro Aso.

Gainers & Losers

Japan Steel Works soared 8.2% to 1,174 yen on the comments from company president suggested that China is likely to increase its nuclear reactor construction to more than 132 in the next five years after 2010.

Nippon Steel increased 2.9% to 354 yen and JFE Holdings increased 3.5%.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries added 1.9% to 371 yen after Nikkei reported that the nuclear plant maker may take a stake in France based Areva.

Exporters climbed higher on speculation. Sony Corp increased 2.7% 2,490 yen and Canon increased 2.3% to 3,550 yen and Yokohama Rubber increased 2.4% to 470 yen.

Suzuki Motor, Honda Motor, Toyota and Mazda increased between 0.8% and 1.6% after dollar strengthened.

Showa Shell increased 2% to 973 yen after it plans to increase its solar panel production by ten-fold. According to the statement released by the company, the unit of Royal Dutch Shell plans to acquire plasma television factory in Miyazaki Prefecture from Hitachi Ltd to produce 900,000 KW of solar cells.

The plant will be third plant operated by the company and will be operational by 2011 and increase the solar panel capacity to one GW a year.

East Japan Railways declined 0.3% to 6,040 yen and West Japan Railways increased 0.3% to 326,000 yen after both railroad companies offered discounted tickets for travel in the autumn vacation.

Nikkei 200 Average Movers

Credit Saison Co, Ltd led the decliners in the Nikkei 225 index of 3.3% followed by losses in Hokuetsu Paper Mills Ltd of 2.8%, in Marui Group Co Ltd of 2.3%, in NTN Corp of 2.1% and in Denki Kagaku Kogyo K K of 2.1%.

Japan Steel Works Ltd led gainers in the Nikkei 225 index with a rise of 8.2% followed by gains in Alps Electric Co Ltd of 7.7%, in Minebea Co Ltd of 5.7% and in Toho Zinc Co Ltd of 5.7%.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 133.83 or 1.31% to 10,320.94, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong increased 310.69 or 1.53% to 20,629.31 and CSI 300 index in China higher 27.07 or 0.88% to 3,104.21. ASX 200 index in Australia increased 18.90 or 0.43% to 4,454.40. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia closed higher 11.65 or 0.99% to 1,190.39.

The Kospi Index in South Korea decreased 0.33 or 0.02% to close at 1,608.57. SET index in Thailand closed higher 14.16 or 2.12% to 682.57 and JSE Index in Indonesia increased 17.66 or 0.76% to 2,340.39. The Sensex index in India increased 327.20 or 2.09% to 16,016.32.