Friday, June 2, 2006

Banks, electronics up in Tokyo

by Brian Turner

The Tokyo equities markets were up strongly on Friday as investor pessimism seemed to ease, with both domestically-focused and export-oriented sectors seeing gains on the day. The Nikkei 225 added 1.8 percent to 15,789.31, while the Topix index was up 1.4 percent to 1,606.11.

Banks were up by 1.6 percent as a sector. The world’s biggest bank as figured by assets held, Mitsubishi UFJ, gained 1.3 percent to ¥1,570,000, while Mizuho was up 1.5 percent to ¥2,540.

The electronics sector also saw gains, rising 1.9 percent on the whole. Hitachi added 1.3 percent to ¥773. Consumer electronics giant Matsushita Electric, meanwhile, advanced by 2.6 percent to ¥2,540.

In the telecommunications sector, an upgrade from UBS sent mobile phone operator KDDI 5.1 percent higher to ¥756,000.

There was trouble, however, for companies in which activist shareholder Yoshiaki Murakami holds a large stake after it was said that Mr. Murakami’s fund is being investigated for possible securities law violations. This resulted in no trades at all for department store Matsuzakaya, which had an excess of sell orders. Sumitomo Warehouse dropped 7 percent to ¥739.

 

 

 

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