Wednesday, April 5, 2006

Tokyo markets decline on real estate, steel

by Brian Turner

The Tokyo equities markets were lower on the day as investors took profits, sending the Nikkei 225 down 0.3 percent to 17,243.98 after reaching its highest level since July 2000 earlier in the day. The Topix index dropped 0.2 percent to 1,746.05.

Automobile manufacturers and the electrical machinery sector saw gains on the day, however. Toyota added 1.2 percent to ¥6,560, while electronics company Hitachi gained 2.9 percent to ¥861. Both were helped by good news from US markets.

Banking was also up, adding 0.9 percent as a whole on hopes that the Bank of Japan will raise interest rates. Mitsubishi UFJ rose by 2.2 percent to ¥1,850,000.

The sectors showing the biggest declines were real estate and iron and steel. Real estate dropped 2.6 percent as a sector after two weeks of advances. Mitsui Fudosan dropped 3.3 percent to ¥2,665, while Mitsubishi Estate declined by 3.2 percent to ¥2,710 and Sumitomo Realty & Development was down 2.1 percent to ¥3,190.

Iron and steel was hurt by the Bank of Japan’s Tankan survey and by fears that high ore prices could hurt profits. Nippon Steel dropped 2.2 percent to ¥443, while JFE declined by 2.8 percent to ¥4,520.

 

 

 

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