Suntory, Orangina Deal; Machinery Orders Fall

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

Machinery orders in July in Japan fell sharply as demand for capital goods remain subdued. Suntory is in talks to buy Orangina from Blackstone Group and Lion Capital. The dollar edged lower in the Japanese trading.

[R]10:00 PM Tokyo – Machinery orders in July in Japan fell sharply as demand for capital goods remain subdued. Suntory is in talks to buy Orangina from Blackstone Group and Lion Capital. The dollar edged lower in the Japanese trading.[/R]

Investors in Japan braved ahead despite the weak machinery orders in July as investors showed willingness to add more stocks.

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 201.53 or 1.95% to 10,513.6. Of the stocks in the index 208 increased, 12 decreased and 5 were unchanged.

Machinery orders in July declined 9.3% to 665 yen according to the data released by the Cabinet Office. The orders increased 9.7% in June on the back of single order for nuclear power plant.

Gainers & Losers

After falling for the last two days banks rebounded today. Mizuho Financial Group Inc increased 2% to 204 yen and Mitsubishi UFJ added 4.4% to 550 yen.

Hoya Corp increased 4.3% to 2,200 yen after Nikkei reported that its Pentax division may report operating profit or at least break even.

Weak dollar aided further rise in exporters today. Cannon Inc gained 2.6% to 3,580 yen, Casio Computer increased 1.5% to 873 yen, Fujifilm Holding advanced 3.3% to 2,815 yen. Sony Corp added 1.9% to 2,470 yen.

Capital equipment makers edged higher despite the latest report suggesting weak advanced orders. Komatsu added 4% to 1,759 yen, Kubota Corp increased 1.4% to 755 yen and Hitachi Construction Machinery Co increased 3.5% to 1,945 yen.

Kirin Holdings increased 1.2% to 1,369 yen and Asahi Breweries added 1% to 1,603 yen after industry organization reported August shipment declined 6% to 42.7 million cases.

Omron Corp advanced 4.6% to 1,669 yen after KBC Securities made positive comments and said that company cost cuts will help to lower first half operating loss.

Suntory Holdings Ltd which is in the process of merging with Kirin Holdings is in advanced talks to acquire Orangina from Blackstone Group LP. The European drinks maker with sales of 1 billion euro is expected to fetch 2.6 billion euros. Blackstone released a statement regarding the deal after the Wall Street Journal reported the talks.

Toyota Motor increased 2.9% to 3,910 yen and Honda Motor added 2.5% to 2,945 yen.

Nikkei 200 Average Movers

Sojitz Corp led the decliners in the Nikkei 225 index of 3.5% followed by losses in Tokyu Land Corp of 1.1%, in GS Yuasa Corp of 0.8%, in Kobe Steel Ltd of 0.5% and in Meidensha Corp of 0.5%.

JGC Corp led gainers in the Nikkei 225 index with a rise of 6.2% followed by gains in Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co Ltd of 5.9%, in Chiyoda Corp of 5.9% and in Fujitsu Ltd of 5.9%.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 201.53 or 1.95% to 10,513.67, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong increased 218.52 or 1.05% to 21,069.56 and CSI 300 index in China lower 32.00 or 1.00% to 3,162.91. ASX 200 index in Australia increased 48.60 or 1.07% to 4,570.80. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia closed higher 4.82 or 0.40% to 1,201.28.

The Kospi Index in South Korea increased 36.91 or 2.30% to close at 1,644.68. SET index in Thailand closed higher 7.50 or 1.08% to 703.09 and JSE Index in Indonesia increased 28.52 or 1.20% to 2,411.86. The Sensex index in India increased 33.31 or 0.21% to 16,216.86.