Wednesday, November 1, 2006

Nikkei drops 0.2 percent; Topix adds 0.3 percent

by Elaine Frei

The Nikkei 225 was lower on Wednesday in Tokyo, falling 0.2 percent to 16,375.26, while the Topix index gained 0.3 percent to 1,622.51 as banks saw advances.

The banking sector was up 1.4 percent as a whole after the Bank of Japan issued a strong report on the economy.  Mitsubishi UFJ added 1.4 percent, matching the sector, to ¥1,490,000.  The report has raised hopes that interest rates could be increased sooner than had been expected.

The consumer finance sector also saw gains on the session.  Acom was 4.7 percent higher to ¥4,710, while Sanyo Shinpan gained 4.9 percent to ¥4,690 and Takefuji added 6.1 percent to ¥4,500 as investors seemed to decide that recent losses have made share prices in the sector a bargain.

In the telecommunications sector, Softbank fell again, by 4.9 percent to ¥2,435, as it continued to lose customers since number portability was introduced.  After questioning from the Fair Trade Commission, Softbank also said Wednesday that it will review its advertisements for price cuts.

Real estate was 0.7 percent lower as a sector on the session, and is down 5 percent in just over a week.  Sumitomo Realty & Development dropped 2.1 percent on the session, to ¥3,800.

 

 

 

Stories related to: Nikkei drops 0.2 percent; Topix adds 0.3 percent

 

 

Visited 456 times, 2 so far today