Thursday, February 8, 2007

Telecoms higher in Tokyo

by Elaine Frei

Sell-offs in the shipping sector prevented the Tokyo equities markets from advancing on Thursday.  The Nikkei 225 closed even at 17,292.48, while the Topix index closed 0.5 percent lower to 1,720.18.  The Nikkei was prevent from dropping mainly by export-focused sectors which saw gains due to weakness in the yen.

The shipping sector fell 5.1 percent as a whole on the session.  The declines came after Nippon Yusen, the largest shipper in Japan, cut its prediction on operating profits for its fiscal year, which ends in March.  Yusen fell 7.8 percent to ¥904.  The news helped send Kawasaki Kisen 4.2 percent lower to ¥1,044 even though it raised its estimate on operating profits by ¥1 billion, to ¥61 billion.  Mitsui OSK Lines dropped 3.5 percent to ¥1,225.

Among export-focused sectors, electrical machinery added 0.5 percent on the day, while transport equipment gained 0.3 percent.  Advantest gained 2.2 percent to ¥5,570.  Honda Motor was 1.7 percent higher to ¥4,710.

The telecommunications sector was higher.  KDDI added 1.8 percent to ¥925,000 after it gained the most subscribers of any Japanese telecom in the latest figures released.  NTT DoCoMo gained 4.4 percent to ¥215,000.

Chugai Pharmaceutical was 6.2 percent higher to ¥2,835 on a statement from Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche that it was thinking about raising its stake.  Roche already owns half of Chugai.  The drug maker was also helped by an upgrade from “hold” to “buy” from Nikko Citigroup.

 

 

 

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