Friday, February 17, 2006

Domestic stocks lead Nikkei, Topix lower

by Brian Turner

In Tokyo on Friday, the equities markets were down on declines in domestic stocks, including the real estate sector, which fell as foreign investors continued to pull out of the Japanese market.

The Nikkei 225 was down 2.1 percent on the day to 15,713.45, a three-week low, and the Topix index dropped 1.6 percent to 1,605.33.

Real estate was down 5.4 percent as a sector on Friday on the heels of a 2.6 percent drop on Thursday. Mitsui Fudosan and Mitsubishi Estate each lost 5.1 percent on the day, to ¥2,240 and ¥2.325 respectively. Tokyu Land was down 7.2 percent to ¥1,008.

Warehouse and wharf stocks were also down on the day, with Mitsubishi Logistics declining by 2.4 percent to ¥1,765.

Most other domestic stocks were also down; banking lost 1.7 percent.

Also down was Sony, which dropped 2.8 percent to ¥5,500 on a downgrade from “neutral” to “sell” from Merrill Lynch, which said the electronics and entertainment company was overvalued.

On the other hand, transport equipment sector gained 0.6 percent. Carmakers, and at least some high-tech companies saw gains on the day.

Sharp was up 1 percent to ¥2,035 as Merrill Lynch upgraded the high-tech manufacturer from “neutral” to “buy” due to what it called Sharp’s greater competitiveness in LCD televisions.

In the automobile sector, Toyota was up 1.6 percent to ¥6,420, while Honda advanced by 0.9 percent to ¥6,890.

 

 

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