Asian Economic News
Japanese Market Trades Firm
10/8/2009 10:05 PM ET
(RTTNews) -
The Japanese stock market is trading notably higher on Friday with the overnight rally on Wall Street and higher commodity prices triggering fairly strong buying in morning trades. However, with a stronger yen and weaker-than-expected August machinery orders data hurting sentiment to an extent, investors are seen treading a somewhat cautious path.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Average, which opened more than 60 points up at 9,894 and surged to 9,945, is currently trading at 9,932, up almost 100 points, or 1.01%, over its previous close.
Automobile stocks are trading mixed. Nissan Motor, Hino Motors and Mitsubishi Motors are trading modestly higher, while Toyota Motor, Suzuki Motor, Honda Motor and Mazda Motor are down in the red with modest losses.
Among bank stocks, Chiba Bank, Shizuoka Bank and Sumitomo Trust and Banking are up modestly, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are exhibiting weakness.
Steel and non-ferrous metals are mostly trading higher. Machinery stocks are also trading firm. Electric machinery, pharmaceuticals and chemicals stocks are trading mixed.
Shares of Lawson Inc. are up nearly 2% after the convenience store operator said group net profit rose 3% year on year to 16 billion yen in the March-August half. On a parent-only basis, the company suffered a loss, despite brisk sales of low-price private-brand items. But overall group earnings were lifted by brisk sales at green-grocer subsidiary Ninety-nine Plus Inc., as well as by improved profits at two other subsidiaries that handle ATMs and ticket distribution.
Shares of apparel firm Fast Retailing Co. opened higher after the firm said that group net profit will likely rise 25% to 62 billion yen in the year ending August 2010. The firm also said its mainstay chain Uniqlo Co. will handle both low-price items and higher-end products, and will aim to open more stores in Asia.
On the economic front, Japan's core machinery orders rose a seasonally adjusted 0.5% month on month to 668.1 billion yen in August, marking the first increase in two months. The increase was smaller than the average 2.2% rise forecast by analysts.
Orders from manufacturers climbed 4.9%, while those from non manufacturers slipped 0.6%. On a year-on-year basis, orders tumbled 26.5%. The Cabinet Office maintained its overall assessment that the pace of deterioration in orders is slowing.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the upper 88 yen range early Friday in Tokyo, up from its levels overnight in New York. In early trades, the dollar fetched 88.75-88.76 yen, up from Thursday's close of 88.34-88.44 yen in New York and 88.27-88.28 yen in Tokyo.
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