Nikkei Hits Five-Month Gable
May 12, 2011
The Nikkei 225 average fell 386.26 to 20166.90, its lowest close since November 24, 2010 it was at 19923.66. Decliners outnumbered advancers 851 to 216, while 140 shares were unchanged. The Second Section Index declined 12.64 to 2118.12 on volume of about 10 million shares. Worries over the slow pace of Japan's economic recovery, triggered by weaker-than-expected figures in the Bank of Japan's quarterly ``tankan'' survey, continued to weigh on the market. ``The tankan figures scared off stock buyers,'' said Gerard Lesko, general manager of the equity derivatives division at Daiwa Securities. Since the tankan's release, the Nikkei has fallen 3.6%. Foreigners dumped blue chips following the Dow Jones Industrial Average's 64.73-point decline to 5647.65 Thursday. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries fell 9 yen to 859 yen on a volume of 5.2 million shares. Sony slipped 60 yen to 6,820; and Toyota Motor eased 30 yen to 2,620. Some blue chips managed to outperform the overall market Friday. Hitachi gained 9 yen at 998, Fujitsu added 3 yen to 979 and Nippon Steel rose 2 yen to 344. NEC lost 20 yen to 1,160 after it lowered its year-end production estimate for 16-megabit dynamic random access memory chips to 12 million to 13 million chips per month, from a previous estimate of 15 million chips a month. Speculative shares rose on heavy volume. Coal-mining company Mitsui Matsushima, the day's most-actively traded issue, climbed 41 yen to 725 yen on a volume of 14 million shares. TYK shed 120 yen to 1,570 yen on volume of 8.1 million shares. Financial shares were mixed, with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi down 10 yen to 2,210 and Nikko Securities slipping 20 yen to 1,080. Hokkaido Takushoku Bank was unchanged at 280 yen after its announcement Thursday of a third-party allocation of new preferred shares. On the over-the-counter market, consumer-finance company Takefuji, which recently had its initial public offering, was at 10,200 yen, up 510 yen from its IPO price.
VastPress 2011 Vastopolis
