* Nikkei marks lowest close since May 1
* Exporters sink as yen advances against dollar
* 25-day moving average just below 9,000 offers support
* Panasonic tumbles after bigger-than-expected loss forecast
By Elaine Lies
TOKYO, - Japan's Nikkei stock average shed 2.4 percent on Monday to hit its lowest close since May 1, with exporters such as Sony Corp (6758.T) sinking as the yen advanced against the dollar.
Panasonic (6752.T) dropped 7.6 percent after it forecast a bigger-than-expected annual loss following a record quarter of red ink, battered by weak demand, price falls and restructuring costs. [ID:nT317165]
Chugai Pharmaceutical (4519.T) rose on hopes for strong sales of the Tamiflu flu drug after the number of H1N1 flu cases climbed among Japanese who had not been abroad.
But market analysts said worries about the impact of the virus on Japan's economy also gave investors an excuse to take profits. [ID:nT167834]
Currency moves were by far the biggest factor affecting the market, with the dollar sinking as low as 94.55 yen on electronic trading platform EBS as risk aversion grew after Wall Street closed weaker on Friday despite reassuring economic data.
The dollar sank 0.3 percent to 94.90 yen after earlier edging back above 95 yen. "Given that many exporters have set their currency rate at 95 yen, we're now getting to a worrisome level," said Takashi Ushio, head of the investment strategy division at Marusan Securities.
Investors fret about a stronger yen as it eats into profits made abroad when repatriated.
After the market closed, credit ratings agency Moody's said it had upgraded Japan's JGB rating to Aa2 from Aa3. [nTKF104380] Nikkei futures in Osaka subsequently pared losses slightly JNIc1.
Oil hovered little changed after falling nearly 4 percent on Friday as dealers became increasingly pessimistic about the outlook for global energy demand. [O/R] CLc1
"Recent economic indicators show that the worsening of the economy appears to have stopped, but now we need to see signs of recovery or it'll be difficult for stocks to rise decisively," said Yoku Ihara, a manager at the investment information department of Retela Crea Securities.
The benchmark Nikkei .N225 lost 226.33 points to 9,038.69 after falling as much as 2.9 percent to 8,997.74, its lowest since May 1. The broader Topix fell 2.5 percent to 859.71
SUPPORT JUST BELOW 9,000
But buying emerged as the Nikkei edged below 9,000, with analysts noting the Nikkei's 25-day moving average now comes in at about 8,954 and appears to be providing support.
Orders for Japanese stocks placed through 10 foreign securities houses before the start of trade on Monday showed that foreign brokers were set to be net buyers of 2.8 million shares. "We're still seeing foreign buying, but not at the pitch of earlier this month and last month. The scale of the net buying is much smaller," said Hiroaki Osakabe, a fund manager at Chibagin Asset Management.
Foreign investors bought a net 415.7 billion yen ($4.4 billion) of Japanese stocks in April, having been net sellers from July to March.
Exporters battered the tech- and exporter-heavy Nikkei. Canon Inc (7751.T) lost 4.8 percent to 3,150 yen, Kyocera Corp (6971.T) lost 1.7 percent to 7,370 yen and Sony tumbled 5.8 percent to 2,420 yen.
Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) trimmed losses to 0.8 percent and 3,560 yen from over 3 percent earlier, while Honda Motor Co (7267.T) shed 3.1 percent to 2,680 yen.
Chugai, which distributes Tamiflu through its partnership with developer Roche, bucked the trend to rise 4.6 percent to 1,849 yen, becoming the biggest contributor to the Nikkei 225 by volume weight.
Shares of companies that make medical masks and the fabrics used for them also jumped.
Unitika Ltd (3103.T) surged 18.5 percent to 109 yen and Fujibo Holdings Inc (3104.T) soared 30.3 percent to 129 yen, up by its daily limit.
Trade fell off slightly, with 2.1 billion shares traded on the Tokyo exchange's first section compared to last week's daily average of 2.5 billion.
Advancing shares outpaced declining ones by more than 4 to 1. (Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Joseph Radford)
No comments:
Post a Comment