WSJ: Tokyo Shares Tumble; Nikkei Hits New 2010 Low On Strong Yen
By Ayai Tomisawa Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
TOKYO (Dow Jones)--Tokyo stocks tumbled Tuesday, with the Nikkei Stock Average hitting a new 16-month low on profit-taking as Wall Street weakened overnight and the yen rose again, while investors demanded more aggressive measures than the central bank offered Monday.
"Investors want more drastic measures like currency intervention," said Kazuhiro Takahashi, general manager at Daiwa Securities Capital Markets.
The Bank of Japan's monetary easing steps weren't aggressive enough to stem the trend of yen's recent rise. The central bank's policy board said at an emergency meeting that it will lend another Y10 trillion in six-month cash at a fixed rate.
The drop came in thin trading, as some investors stayed on the sidelines cautiously awaiting major U.S. economic indicators this week, such as the Institute for Supply Management data for August manufacturing activity, and August unemployment numbers.
The Nikkei Stock Average fell 325.20 points, or 3.6%, to 8824.06, the lowest closing level since April 28, 2009, when it marked 8493.77. The Topix index of all the Tokyo Stock Exchange First Section issues fell 24.54 points, or 3.0%, to 804.67.
Only 1.59 billion shares changed hands, lower than average daily volume of 1.60 billion shares.
Market analysts say the Nikkei's next support level is around 8500, depending on what the BOJ comes up with at its policy meeting Sept. 6-7.
Exporters were hammered, with Tokyo Electron falling 5.7% to Y3,940, Advantest dropping 5.3% to Y1,594 and Toshiba shedding 4.4% to Y395. Manufacturers with high exposure to the euro zone also fell sharply, with Mazda Motor skidding 3.6% to Y188 and Canon dropping 4.5% to Y3,425.
At 0060 GMT, the dollar hit Y84.17 from its New York level of Y84.55. The euro traded at Y106.44, compared with Y107.09.
Sharp tumbled 5.1% to Y804 on a report in Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun that Sony may cancel a plan to raise its stake in display panel JV with Sharp.
"It leaves (investors) the impression that the market is sour and there is no immediate prospect for recovery" in demand for large-sized LCD panels, says Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management.
Elpida Memory fell 7.3% to Y1,009 after Goldman Sachs cut its target price to Y1,350 from Y1,600. The brokerage slashed the company's operating profit forecast for the current fiscal year to Y114.4 billion from an earlier projected Y144.3 billion, citing a lower DRAM price assumption for the third quarter.
Bucking broader market losses, Internet content services provider DeNA rose 3.4% to Y2,518 as Mizuho Securities hiked its rating to Outperform, saying that the company will likely be the leader in the social networking services market in Japan thanks to a growing number of mobile portal "Mobage-town" users for the next few years.
Nikkei 225 futures closed down 330 points, or 3.6%, at 8800 on the Osaka Securities Exchange.
-By Ayai Tomisawa, Dow Jones Newswires, 813-6269-2793, ayai.tomisawa@dowjones.com