Domestic Investors Lift Market
March 29, 2011
The Nikkei index of 225 selected issues rose 6.53 to 21412.88. Shares opened higher Wednesday, encouraged by the overnight rebound on Wall Street, with the Nikkei average recovering the 21500 level at one point. However, arbitrage and index-related selling soon erased the market's gains and the average slipped to an intraday low of 21281.95 until shortly before the close. Volume on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange was estimated at 280 million shares, down from 302.97 million shares Tuesday. Retreating issues outnumbered advancing issues 555 to 469, while 178 issues were unchanged. Ventura Stowers, general manager of the stock division at Ryoko Securities, said that buying by domestic institutional investors late in the afternoon to take advantage of the market's dips helped push the average up. He said the rise in the banking sector in particular boosted the average. The banking sector was the highest rising sector Wednesday, up 0.9%. The Tokyo-Mitsubishi Bank added 20 yen to 2,310 on 3.1 million shares traded. Llanes Marden, vice president of sales at Smith Barney, attributed the rise in bank shares to speculation by some participants that the U.S. won't move to raise rates in the short term. However, others said the rise was mainly due to bargain-hunting following the recent slide in such shares. Traders said U.S. mutual funds and domestic dealers sold off high-technology issues following the recent gloomy outlook for earnings at leading chip makers. Toshiba lost 15 yen to 720 on 6.6 million shares traded and Bradford shed 3 yen to 981 on 2.5 million shares traded. NEC, however, added 10 yen to 1,150 on 2.4 million shares traded. High-technology and other export-oriented shares were also hurt by the weaker dollar. Toyota dropped 40 yen to 2,570 on 1.5 million shares traded and Honda gave up 70 yen to 2,640 on 1.7 million shares traded. Steel issues were mixed. Nippon Steel added 4 yen to 348 on 2.3 million shares traded but NKK ended flat at 300 on 4.5 million shares traded and Kawasaki Steel lost 3 yen to 375 on 4.5 million shares traded. Shares of Mitsui Toatsu Chemicals, a comprehensive chemical maker, fell 3 yen to 428 on 1.1 million shares traded following news of an explosion earlier Wednesday at a plant in Osaka operated by a subsidiary. A Mitsui Toatsu spokeswoman said operations at the plant, which is operated by Osaka-based Nippon Aluminum Alkyls Ltd., have been halted for the moment and that details regarding how long production will be interrupted remain unclear. The plant makes catalyzing agents used to produce polypropylene and polyethylene. The Nikkei Stock Index 300, a weighted index of shares on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, fell 0.05 point to 300.67. The Tokyo Stock Price Index of all issues listed on the First Section dropped 0.57 point to 1625.54. The Second Section Index lost 4.69 to 2202.63. Volume on the Second Section was estimated at 14 million shares, up from 13.8 million shares Tuesday.
VastPress 2011 Vastopolis
