Thursday January 22, 07:36 AM
Nikkei up 1.9 pct as property stocks jump after BOJ
By Aiko Hayashi
TOKYO, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei (news) stock average gained
1.9 percent on Thursday, buoyed by property firms after the
central bank said it would accept
bonds issued by REITs as
collateral, although Honda Motor Co (Stuttgart: 853226 - news) and other exporters
were hit by a firm yen.
Top brokerages such as Daiwa Securities Group jumped
on a ratings upgrade, helping to buoy the overall market, while
banking stocks rebounded after a sharp sell-off and earnings
surprises from U.S. peers such as Northern Trust.
Sony Corp (Munich: 853687 - news) fell more than 2 percent ahead of a widely
expected earnings revision.
After the close, it warned it would post a
bigger-than-expected $2.9 billion operating loss this business
year due to sliding demand, a stronger yen and costs to
restructure its ailing electronics operations.
'The BOJ news was positive because that could help property
firms with fund raising, but the impact on the overall market
will be limited, as the market will continue to be driven by the
performance of U.S. stocks and currency markets,' said Yukata
Miura, senior technical analyst at Shinko Securities.
The Bank (NASDAQ: TBHS - news) of Japan said on Thursday it will buy bonds issued
by real estate investment trusts (REITs) as collateral for its
market operations, a move it said was aimed at facilitating its
money market operations.
In choppy trade, the benchmark Nikkei rose 150.10 points to
8,051.74, after earlier hitting its lowest point since Nov. 21.
The broader Topix climbed 1.1 percent to 795.91.
Amid worries about the financial sector in Europe, the euro
dropped 0.7 percent to 115.89 yen, hurting shares of
exporters.
'Investors appear to be moving money from exporters to
defensive stocks for now as it's hard to keep dumping shares
considering they are rather undervalued at this point,' said
Takashi Kamiya, chief economist at T & D Asset Management.
'In the last few days, eyes have been also shifting to Europe
from the United States. The way that the euro and the pound have
weakened will definitely deal a blow to Japanese exporters.'
Data showed on Thursday showed Japan exports plunged a record
35 percent in December from a year earlier, bigger than an
already gloomy median forecast from economists for a 30.1 percent
fall, and that business sentiment hit a new low.
'With growth in Asia and other emerging economies slowing,
there is nothing to support Japanese exports. We'll likely see
external demand push down October-December GDP growth quite a
bit,' said Yoshiki Shinke, senior economist at Dai-ichi Life
Research Institute.
REITS JUMP, EXPORTERS DOWN
Shares of real estate investment trusts (REITs) shot up after
the BOJ's announcement, though investors saw few other surprises
in other moves by the central bank, which kept interest rates on
hold just above zero and said it would start buying corporate
bonds.
Kenedix Realty Investment Corp soared 14.9 percent
to 244,800 yen, while Premier Investment Corp jumped 12
percent to 274,000 yen and Top REIT Inc surged 9.4
percent to 348,000 yen.
Major property firms also gained, with Mitsui Fudosan , Japan's largest real estate developer, climbing 4.9
percent to 1,285 yen and Mitsubishi Estate Co (Berlin: MES.BE - news) advancing
5.4 percent to 1,280 yen.
Japan's top brokerages surged after Credit Suisse upgraded
the sector to 'overweight' from 'market weight' on an expected
rebound, with Daiwa its top pick.
Daiwa Securities (Munich: 857092 - news) , Japan's second-largest brokerage, surged
6.8 percent to 484 yen, while bigger rival Nomura Holdings (N33.SI - news) jumped 4.7 percent to 642 yen.
Banks gained after U.S. peers rose on earnings surprises from
Northern Trust and PNC Financial Services (PNCFP.PK - news) , helping U.S.
banks reclaim some of Tuesday's losses that took the financial
sector to a 14-year low.
Top bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group rose 0.8
percent to 487 yen and Mizuho Financial (Munich: 200455 - news) , Japan's No. 2
bank, gained 1.4 percent to 220 yen.
Defensive shares, especially drugmakers, surged, as they are
seen as resilient in the face of an economic downturn.
Astellas Pharma Inc (Berlin: YPH.BE - news) shot up 5.3 percent to 3,390 yen
also after saying it and Ono Pharmaceutical Co (Munich: 859650 - news) had won
approval to sell their osteoporosis drug in Japan, clearing the
final hurdle to tap a $770 million market.
Other drugmakers Eisai Co (Frankfurt: 855526 - news) gained 5.6 percent to
3,400 yen and Daiichi Sankyo Co (Stuttgart: A0F57T - news) jumped 5.6 percent to
1,931 yen.
But Honda lost 3.4 percent to 2,015 yen and Toyota Motor Corp (Frankfurt: 853510 - news) skidded 4.2 percent to 2,855 yen. Canon Inc (Berlin: CNN1.BE - news)
slid 1.7 percent to 2,680 yen. The three stocks were the top
drags on the Nikkei 225.
Sony shares declined 2.6 percent to 1,938 yen.
Trade was moderate on the Tokyo exchange's first section,
with 1.9 billion shares changing hands, in line with last week's
daily average.
Advancing stocks outpaced declining ones by nearly 2 to 1.
(Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
|
|
|
Send Article by Email
Send Article by IM
Blog This with Y! 360
Printable View
