Thursday, December 14, 2006

Topix, Nikkei each gain 0.8 percent in Tokyo

by Elaine Frei

Export-related stocks were higher on Thursday in Tokyo as the yen continued to stay weak and as new data was released in the United States that showed retail sales rose 1 percent in November.  The Nikkei 225 was 0.8 percent higher to 16,829.20, its highest close in seven months, while the Topix index also ended with a gain of 0.8 percent, to 1,651.85.  Meanwhile, the Mothers index of small and mid-caps gained 1.7 percent to close at 1,144.42.

The gains in US sales helped the electronics sector.  While Pioneer dropped 1.8 percent to ¥1,633 on a downgrade from “buy” to “neutral” from Nomura Securities, others in the sector benefited from the new sales numbers.  Matsushita Electric Industrial was 0.6 percent higher to ¥3,345.  Canon gained 1.7 percent to ¥6,650.  Sony added 1.8 percent, helped along by its insistence that it would meet its target of shipping 3 million PlayStation 3 game consoles globally by the end of the month and that 6 million units will be shipped by the end of March.

In the tobacco sector, no news was not necessarily good news for investors.  There was nothing new on a possible bid by Japan Tobacco for UK tobacco company Gallaher.  This lack of fresh information sent Japan Tobacco 2.4 percent lower to ¥579,000 just a day after reaching its highest share price ever.

 

 

 

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