Wednesday May 14, 05:01 AM
Tokyo shares end morning flat after mixed Wall Street - UPDATE
TOKYO (Thomson Financial) - Japanese shares ended Wednesday morning flat after a mixed performance on Wall Street overnight and with no strong leads to provide investors a clear direction.
'The market was directionless as uncertainty over the impact of surging oil prices on the global economy weighed on (sentiment),' said Yoshinori Nagano, chief strategist at Daiwa Asset Management.
'But I think local stocks may be weaker because the market may need more time to adjust to some emerging optimism about the credit crunch, ' Nagano said.
The Nikkei 225 Stock Average finished the morning 2.20 points lower at 13,951.53, off a low of 13,910.92.
The broader Topix declined 1.84 points or 0.1 percent to 1,358.21, the session low.
Gainers outnumbered decliners 1,091 to 492 with 126 issues unchanged.
Volume rose to 943 million shares, up from 844 million shares on Tuesday morning (NASDAQ: TUES - news) .
Overnight, U.S. stocks ended mixed after oil rose to a new trading record of $126.98 a barrel while U.S. retail sales fell 0.2 percent in April, as expected.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said turmoil in financial markets has eased somewhat, citing improvements in markets for certain mortgage-backed securities, but he also said the situation remains 'far from normal.'
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.3 percent while the Nasdaq composite (NASDAQ: news) index rose 0.3 percent.
The U.S. dollar was last trading at 104.69 yen, up about 1 yen from 103.60-63 yen at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Some exporters were higher on the expectation that a weaker yen will boost their profit margins.
Major office equipment maker Canon (Berlin: CNN1.BE - news) rose 1.5 percent to 5,490 yen, Honda Motor (Paris: JP3854600008 - news) climbed 2.2 percent to 3,290 yen and major digital camera manufacturer Nikon (Berlin: NKN.BE - news) gained 1.6 percent at 3,240 yen.
Sega Sammy Holdings lost 4.6 percent to 1,133 yen after the holding company for video game publisher Sega and pachinko slot machine maker Sammy reported a net loss for the year ended March.
Japan Airlines edged 0.4 percent higher to 249 yen after the Nikkei (news) business daily reported that the carrier plans to cut base salaries and other benefits by 5 percent for 17,000 employees at core unit Japan Airlines International Co.
Pioneer Corp (Munich: 857040 - news) . tumbled 16.6 percent to 919 yen after the Nikkei newspaper quoted the Japanese audio visual equipment maker as saying it plans to cut roughly 2,000 jobs in Japan and abroad by the end of the fiscal 2008 as part of the restructuring of its plasma television operations.
Big banks were lower, with Mizuho Financial Group down 3.1 percent at 507,000 yen, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (Berlin: MFZ.BE - news) down 4.3 percent at 1,031 yen and Mitsui Sumitomo Financial Group down 3.3 percent at 810,000 yen.
($1 = 104.69 yen)
|
|
|
Send Article by Email
Send Article by IM
Blog This with Y! 360
Printable View
