Tuesday December 2, 11:29 PM
Nikkei expected to rise but gains likely limited
TOKYO, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei (news) average is set to
rise on Wednesday, with bargain hunting of beaten-down exporters
like Sony Corp (Munich: 853687 - news) in the wake of Wall Street gains, though
rises will likely be limited by the continued firmness of the
yen.
One stock to watch will be Fast Retailing Co Ltd (Frankfurt: 891638 - news)
after November same-store sales at its domestic Uniqlo casual
clothing chain jumped 32.2 percent from the same month a year
earlier, marking the biggest monthly gain since March 2001.
U.S. stocks rebounded on optimism after global bellwether
General Electric (NYSE: GE - news) pledged to leave its dividend intact,
while financial shares gained on a Federal Reserve move to extend
several emergency measures integral to stabilising banks.
'We're likely to see short covering, but gains on the Nikkei
will be limited to around 8,000, since the yen remains strong and
the overall mood really can't be changed that easily,' said Yumi
Nishimura, deputy general manager of the investment advisory
section of Daiwa Securities SMBC.
The dollar was fetching around 93.15 yen after falling as low
as 92.64 yen on Tuesday.
The benchmark Nikkei is expected to move from 7,900
to 8,100. It ended Tuesday trade at 7,863.69, a nearly two-week
low.
Nikkei futures traded in Chicago closed at 8,075 compared
with the Osaka close of 7,880.
----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2244 GMT ------------
INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG
S&P 500 848.81 3.99% 32.600
USD/JPY 93.15 -0.13% -0.120
10-YR US TSY YLD 2.7015 -- -0.024
SPOT GOLD 781.3 -0.03% -0.200
US CRUDE 47.5 -3.61% -1.780
DOW JONES (news) 8419.09 3.31% 270.00
-------------------------------------------------------------
> Shares rebound with confidence boost from GE
> Dollar, yen fall versus euro as stocks rebound
> Prices up on outlook for easing, safety bid
> Gold recovers as dollar falls, equities gain
> Oil drops 4.7 pct, down $100 from record
STOCKS TO WATCH
-- JFE Holdings (Frankfurt: 724564 - news) , Kobe Steel Ltd (Frankfurt: 858737 - news)
Top Japanese steelmakers are considering temporarily shutting
down blast furnaces as early as this month in a move to cope with
falling demand, the Nikkei business daily reported on Wednesday.
JFE Steel Corp, the core unit of JFE Holdings, is considering
shutting down some of its seven blast furnaces in Kurashiki and
Fukuyama in western Japan, possibly on a rotating basis, the
Nikkei said, while Kobe Steel is deciding whether to shut down
one of its three furnaces in western Japan.
The shutdowns may be for two or three days.
Nippon Steel Corp (Berlin: NPS.BE - news) may extend the suspension of a
blast furnace in western Japan, it added.
-- NTT Data Corp (Xetra: 895009 - news)
Japan's largest domestic system integrator said on Tuesday it
aims to increase sales abroad by more than 10-fold by March 2013
as it eyes acquisitions in the Americas and Australia.
-- Honda Motor Co (Stuttgart: 853226 - news)
Honda is scaling back its overseas expansion plans, freezing
a project to boost capacity in Turkey and delaying a second plant
in India by at least a year, the Nikkei business daily reported
on Wednesday.
-- Hitachi Ltd (Xetra: 853219 - news)
Japanese electronics conglomerate Hitachi said it and U.S.
chipmaker Intel Corp (NASDAQ: INTC - news) would jointly develop solid state
drive (SSD) memory devices, which are seen as a promising
alternative to hard disk drives.
The move marks a strategic shift for Hitachi, the world's
third-largest hard drive maker, which until now has not made a
commitment to SSD technology.
-- Toyota Motor Corp (Frankfurt: 853510 - news) , other automakers
U.S. monthly auto sales in November plunged 37 percent to the
lowest level since 1982, data released on Tuesday showed, with
Japanese automakers also taking a beating.
U.S. sales for Toyota Motor Co dropped 34 percent,
Honda Motor Co fell 32 percent, Ford Motor Co was
off 31 percent, Nissan Motor Co (Berlin: NISA.BE - news) tumbled 42.2 percent and
Chrysler LLC sales fell 47 percent.
(Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Chris Gallagher)
|
|
|
Send Article by Email
Send Article by IM
Blog This with Y! 360
Printable View
