Taisei Corp. (TSE:1801), Obayashi Corp. (TSE:1802) and Shimizu Corp. (TSE:1803) hit their year-to-date lows Monday, with Taisei closing down five per cent from Friday. Kajima Corp. (TSE:1812) retreated as much as five per cent at one point. The declines sent the four firms' combined market capitalization down 32 per cent for the year to 940.7 billion yen (US$10.5 billion), their lowest level in about six and a half years.
Monday's selling came from investors who had bought the shares on hopes that Tokyo would be selected to host the 2016 Olympic Games, according to an official at an online brokerage. Tokyo lost to Rio de Janeiro in the vote on Friday.
The declines in contractor stocks began picking up speed in September. The new government's reviews of public works, including the cancellation of the Yamba dam project in Gunma Prefecture, have made "the outlook for the contractors' earnings murky," says Junichi Misawa of STB Asset Management Co.
Public works account for just 10-20 per cent of orders the contractors receive. Still, with private-sector demand cooling, investors had counted on taxpayer-funded projects to give support to the companies' earnings in the second half and beyond.
(Nikkei) rw

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