Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Tokyo markets lower before Fed decision

by Brian Turner

Equities markets in Tokyo saw declines on Wednesday amid a round of profit-taking as investors awaited the decision on interest rates from the US Federal Reserve. The Nikkei 225 dropped 1.4 percent to 16,951.93, while the Topix index lost 1.3 percent to 1,725.06. Export-dependent shares were especially hard-hit by the weakening dollar.

Camera makers were hard-hit. Nikon dropped 2.2 percent to ¥2,230, while Konica Minolta was down 2.7 percent to ¥1,470.

Kyocera, which manufactures electronics parts, declined by 2.6 percent to ¥10,110.

Japan Air Lines was down 1.9 percent to ¥305 after it said it had lost ¥47.2 billion in the fiscal year ending in March. The air carrier, which has had its reputation harmed by several safety problems, had been expected to lose about that much. While the number of group passengers using the airline grew during the year, individual passenger traffic was down.

In the automobile manufacturing sector, Toyota dropped 0.7 percent to ¥6,680. After the market closed for the day the carmaker said that its net profits were up 17 percent in the last fiscal year but that they would likely be down 4.4 percent in the current fiscal year due to currency fluctuations and high prices for raw materials.

 

 

 

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