BackJapanese shares end mixed ahead of earnings results
Japanese shares end mixed ahead of earnings results
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Agencies
Closing
Tokyo: Japanese share prices closed narrowly mixed on Monday, 15 October, as investors refrained from aggressive buying ahead of upcoming US and domestic corporate results, dealers said.
They said the market mood was cautious despite solid gains seen Friday on Wall Street after US retail sales grew more than expected.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange’s benchmark Nikkei-225 index of leading shares gained 26.98 points or 0.16 percent to 17,358.15.
The broader Topix index of all first-section shares dipped 2.04 points or 0.12 percent to 1,657.44.
Gainers beat decliners 859 to 728, with 135 issues unchanged.
Turnover fell to 1.62 billion shares from 1.92 billion on Friday. AFP
Morning
Tokyo: The Nikkei average was nearly flat on Monday, 15 October, as Tokyo Electron Ltd rose on a brokerage firm report, helping other chip-related shares gain, but banks fell ahead of earnings from US financial institutions.
Nintendo Co Ltd, flying high on expectations that its DS and Wii game machines will lead rival game gear in the year-end shopping season, saw its market value top 10 trillion yen ($85.1 billion), joining Toyota Motor and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. The stock jumped 4.4% to 70,700 yen, after earlier hitting a life-time high of 70,900.
A series of earnings are expected from U.S. firms including JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America and investors were holding back, said Yasuo Yabe, director of sales at Meiwa Securities.
“Earnings momentum in the United Sates seems to be slowing down and investors here want to wait and see," he said.
The Nikkei has advanced for the past five straight weeks, adding more than 1,000 points, making it ripe for profit taking, Yabe said.
“There is a lack of incentives to trade in Japan, making it difficult for the Nikkei to go beyond 17,500," he added.
The benchmark Nikkei inched up 0.01%, or 2.31 points, to 17,333.48, as of 0442 GMT, while the broader Topix index dipped 0.22% to 1,655.90.
In the banking sector, industry leader Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group shed 2.7% to 1,138 yen and its rival Mizuho Financial Group Inc lost 1.3% to 668,000 yen.
Another notable loser was TDK Corp which gave up 2.7% to 10,030 yen after JPMorgan cut its rating on the electronic components maker to “neutral" from “overweight," citing a weak hard disk drive outlook.
Tokyo Electron rose 4.3% to 7,610 yen after JPMorgan kept its overweight rating on the stock and 15,000 yen price target for the world’s second-biggest supplier of semiconductor equipment, even though the company missed its orders outlook in July-September.
Other chip-related shares also rose with Advantest Corp, a maker of chip testing devices, up 6.9% to 3,870 yen and chip maker NEC Electronics up 3.2% at 3,510 yen.
Softbank Corp, a mobile carrier and retail investors’ darling, rose 2.6% to 2,605 yen, as the market’s recent advances improved sentiment among individual investors. Reuters
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