Nomura Profit Lifts Japan Stocks

Darlington Musarurwa
02 Feb, 2010
New York City

Average monthly wages in Japan drop 3.9% in 2009. Nomura returned to profit in the third quarter as banks issue more shares in underwritten offering. Mitsubishi Electric Corp reported its first quarterly profit in five quarters. Daihatsu Motor Corp. lifts profit forecast to 15 billion yen.

[R]5:00 AM New York, 7:00 PM Tokyo - Average monthly wages in Japan drop 3.9% in 2009. Nomura returned to profit in the third quarter as banks issue more shares in underwritten offering. Mitsubishi Electric Corp reported its first quarterly profit in five quarters. Daihatsu Motor Corp. lifts profit forecast to 15 billion yen.[/R]

Japan stock indexes rose as manufacturing activities index in the U.S. showed a sharp improvement. The index in January increased at the fastest pace in five years.

Exporters also gained as the yen weakened against the dollar.

In Japan stocks surged after Nomura returned to profit in the third quarter as banks issue more shares in underwritten offering. Mitsubishi Electric Corp reported its first quarterly profit in five quarters.

In Tokyo trading Nikkei 225 Stock Average surged 1.6% or 166.07 to 10.371.09, and the broader Topix Index edged up 1.6% to 912.82.

In the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange 8.9 billion shares worth 690 billion yen were traded and in the second section 335 million shares valued at 1.9 billion yen changed hands.

Of the Nikkei 225 index stocks, 178 rose, 37 fell, and 10 were unchanged. Nippon Soda Co. led gainers in the index shares with a rise of 11.1% followed by Okuma Corp. advancing 0.6%.

Japan’s Average Monthly Wages Fall 3.9% in 2009

Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare reported that the country’s average monthly wages at companies with at least five employees dropped 3.9% to 315,164 yen, the biggest decline since 1991.

Scheduled pay, including basic salary, decreased 1.2% to 245,758 yen, while nonscheduled pay, including overtime pay, tumbled 13.5% to 16,672 yen.

Special payments such as bonuses declined 12.1% to an average 52,734 yen, while average overtime hours in the year fell 15.2% to 9.2 hours per month.

In addition, monthly overtime hours in the manufacturing sector, an important economic indicator, dropped 32.2 % to 10.5 hours.

The number of regular employees and other types of worker who work full time decreased by 0.9% to about 31,986,000 and part-timers increased 2.6% to about 12,004,000.

Average pay at the companies declined 6.1% to 549,259 yen in December 2009.

Daihatsu Motor Lifts Outlook

Daihatsu Motor Co. yesterday revised upward its profit forecast for fiscal 2009 to 15 billion yen from the previous estimate of 13 billion yen.

The company also estimates pre-tax profit in the year to rise to 32 billion yen from 27 billion yen projected in November.

Annual sales are expected to gain to 1.5 trillion yen from 1.45 trillion yen.

Nomura Holdings Profit Rises

Nomura Holdings reported today that net income in the three months ended December 31 rose to 10.2 billion yen from a loss of 342.9 billion yen in the same period a year ago.

The brokerage’s profit last year was impacted by staff costs associated with the acquisition of Lehman Brothers.

Revenue climbed to 322 billion yen from 2.7 billion yen as banks raise new capital in underwritten offerings.

Nikkei Movers

Nichirei Corporation led the decliners in the Nikkei 225 Stock Average with a loss of 2.3% followed by losses in Minebea Co Ltd of 2.3%, in Toshiba Corp of 1.9%, in Osaka Gas Co Ltd 1.5% and in Obayashi Corp 1.5%.

Nippon Soda Co., Ltd led gainers in the Nikkei 225 Stock Average with a rise of 11.1% followed by gains in OKUMA Corporation 9.6%, in Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd of 6.2% and in Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd of 6.2%.

Other Movers

Chuo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc rose 1.2% to ¥318.00.

KDDI Corporation rose 0.3% to ¥489,000.00 after the Japan’s Financial Services Agency has started an investigation into company over its planned purchase of Jupiter Telecommunications Co. shares from Liberty Global Inc., the Yomiuri Shimbun reported in its Tuesday evening edition.

Mitsui Mining and Smelting Company, Limited advanced 5.1% to ¥247.00 after the company announced that it has raised its consolidated full-year guidance for revenue from ¥365,000 million to ¥394,000 million.

Toyota Motor Corporation added 4.4% to ¥3,605.00 as the company prepares to send repair kits to fix the foot pedal problems.