Japanese stock market closes lower for twelfth straight session

Friday, July 04, 2008; Posted: 07:54 AM

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(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market closed lower for the twelfth straight session on Friday, as worries mounted over rising oil prices, while real estate stocks fell on credit fears.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index opened higher, but surrendered its early gains and slipped into negative territory. However, the index pared most of its losses to end the session down 0.2%. This marks the longest losing streak since late April 1954 when the Nikkei fell for 15 consecutive trading sessions.

The Nikkei 225 Index lost 27.51 points or 0.21% to close at 13237.89 and the broader Topix Index of all First Section issues declined 0.14 points or 0.01% to finish at 1,297.88. Both the indices fell for the fourth straight week.

Among economic news, the sale of foreign-made motor vehicles in Japan declined 15.1% in June compared to one year earlier, according to a report from the Japan Automobile Importers Association on Friday. The group said that sales of imported cars, trucks and buses totaled 20,725 in June, compared to 24,406 from June 2007. It was the second straight monthly on-year decline. Overall, imported auto sales, including domestic sales of vehicles produced overseas by Japanese companies, were lower by 20.8%.

Japan's leading index declined slightly to 92.6 in May from 92.8 in April, a preliminary report from the Cabinet Office showed Friday. Economists had expected a reading of 93. Meanwhile, the coincident index climbed to 103.4 from 101.7 in April, slightly below the consensus forecast of 103.4. The lagging index stood at 103.9 versus 103.7 in the previous month.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar was trading in the upper 106-yen range on Friday. In late trades, the dollar was quoted at 106.72-106.75 yen compared with Thursday's close of 106.03-106.04 yen in Tokyo.

Apartment developer Urban Corp. fell 28% on concern that it might not be able to complete the sale of convertible bonds to BNP Paribas SA. Both the companies rejected the speculation. Other property stocks also tumbled. Joint Corp. slid 13%, Sumitomo Realty & Development lost 3% and Zephyr Corp. dropped 6.3%. Zephyr had announced the bankruptcy of a subsidiary in May.

In the tech space, Advantest declined 1.13%, Fanuc eased 0.41% and Tokyo Electron lost 1.18%, while Matsushita Electric Industrial gained 1.52% and NEC rose 2.50%.

Banking and auto maker stocks closed mixed. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group declined 1.26% and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group eased 0.26%, while Mizuho Financial Group added 0.42% and Resona Holdings gained 1.23%. Among automakers, Mazda rose 4.56%, Nissan advanced 0.81% and Toyota added 0.41%, while Honda eased 0.28% and Suzuki closed flat.

Meanwhile, Komatsu rose 2.35% and Sony advanced 0.65% while Canon eased 0.38%.

Oil stock Nippon Oil lost 1.65%, while Nippon Mining Holdings added 0.31% and Showa Shell Sekiyu KK rose 3.04%. Brokerage Daiwa Securities declined 1.26% and Nomura Holdings lost 1.10%.

Steel makers advanced after being among the major losers on Thursday. JFE Holdings climbed 2.4%, Nippon Steel Corp. added 1.5% and Mitsubishi Steel rose 4.1%.

Takoi Carbon jumped 11.4%. The company said it would raise prices for its graphite electrodes for export by about 75% in order to counter rising costs. Meanwhile, Asahi Breweries declined 4.3% after Morgan Stanley cut its rating on the company's stock.

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