AOC, Chiyoda, Dwango, KU, Mitsui O.S.K., Yamada: Japanese Stocks
February 10, 2012, 3:10 AM ESTBy Norie Kuboyama
Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 17.40, or 0.2 percent, to 8,984.84 at the 11:30 a.m. trading break in Tokyo. The following are among the most active shares in the Japanese market today. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names.
Shipping lines: Nippon Yusen K.K. (9101 JT) and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. (9104 JT), Japan’s two biggest shipping companies by sales, gained after JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their equity ratings to “overweight” from “neutral.” JPMorgan raised its target price for Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd. (9107 JT), the No. 3 shipping line, to 180 yen from 140 yen.
Nippon Yusen added 1.8 percent to 230 yen. Mitsui O.S.K. gained 2.1 percent to 342 yen. Kawasaki Kisen rose 1.8 percent to 169 yen. The shippers also got a boost after the Baltic Dry Index, a gauge of cargo rates, advanced 2.8 percent yesterday, rising for a fourth day.
AOC Holdings Inc. (5017 JT), an oil and gas explorer, plunged 11 percent to 495 yen. The company cut its full-year net-income forecast 55 percent to 1.3 billion yen ($17 million), citing foreign exchange losses and falling prices.
Chiyoda Corp. (6366 JT) sank 6.3 percent to 888 yen after CLSA Asia Pacific Markets cut the investment rating on the plant engineering company to “underperform” from “outperform,” citing an expected decline in orders.
Dwango Co. (3715 JT), which provides Internet content for mobile phones, lost 5.2 percent to 140,500 yen. The company forecast net income will fall 67 percent to 230 million yen in the six months ending March from a year earlier.
Hokuetsu Kishu Paper Co. (3865 JT) slumped 4.3 percent to 516 yen after CLSA Asia Pacific Markets lowered its equity rating on the maker of paper and pulp products to “underperform” from “outperform.” Hokuetsu yesterday said nine-month operating profit rose 14 percent to 7.55 billion yen.
Japan Drilling Co. (1606 JT) declined 3.9 percent to 2,520 yen. The offshore driller lowered its full-year net-income forecast 11 percent to 2.88 billion yen.
KU Holdings Co. (9856 JT), a car dealer, was bid at 494 yen and poised to rise from yesterday’s close of 414 yen. The company said it will buy back as much as 4.43 percent of its outstanding shares. The company raised its full-year net-income forecast 46 percent to 1.75 billion yen.
Nippon Denko Co. (5563 JT), a maker of metals and industrial chemicals, tumbled 11 percent to 336 yen. The company said it expects a 67 percent plunge in net income to 1.5 billion yen this fiscal year, with an 8.7 percent drop in sales.
Showa Denko K.K. (4004 JT), a chemical products maker, slid 3 percent to 163 yen. Net income at Showa Denko rose 34 percent to 17 billion yen, missing its forecast by 19 percent.
Tohoku Electric Power Co. (9506 JT) jumped 5.6 percent to 890 yen. The utility restarted the 34-megawatt No. 6 unit at its Niigata thermal power plant today after the unit was automatically halted on Feb. 8, according to a statement on its website. The outage was caused by a faulty pressure transmitter, the statement said.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501 JT) climbed 4.6 percent to 204 yen. The government may acquire more than a third of voting rights of the utility, the Asahi newspaper reported. That would give veto powers to the government over the company’s management decisions, the report said.
Yamada Denki Co. (9831 JT), an electronics retailer, soared 9.6 percent to 5,490 yen after maintaining its full-year net income forecast at 77 billion yen. That was higher than analyst estimates of 70 billion yen.
--Editor: Jason Clenfield.
To contact the reporter on this story: Norie Kuboyama in Tokyo at nkuboyama@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Gentle at ngentle2@bloomberg.net
