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Friday August 17, 11:01 AMTokyo stocks hit 9-mth low as exporters fall on yenTOKYO, Aug 17 (Reuters) - The Nikkei average fell 2.3 percent on Friday to hit its lowest point in nearly nine months, with exporters such as Toyota Motor Corp. hammered on a surge of the yen, overshadowing a rebound in financial shares following a rise in their U.S. peers recently battered by concerns over the subprime market turmoil.The Nikkei has fallen 13.8 percent since its year-high hit in late February, as of Friday's morning session. For the year to date, the benchmark has lost 8.4 percent. "Investor appetite may shift to domestic stocks from exporters as they have been buying exporters on expectation that those companies will revise up their earnings forecast, boosted by a soft yen," said Katsuhiko Kodama, a senior strategist at Toyo Securities. "Financial shares appear to be staging a technical rebound ... but we can't still let down our guard as credit problems seem so deep-rooted." The benchmark Nikkei finished the morning session down 376.10 points at 15,772.39, the lowest point since Nov. 28, 2006. The broader TOPIX index lost 2.4 percent or 36.91 points to 1,530.55, also hitting its lowest point since late November. Shares of automaker Toyota Motor and other major exporters fell sharply after the yen hit a 14-month peak of about 112 yen against the dollar on Wednesday, threatening to cut into profits made by exporters outside Japan. [USD/ FRX/] The yen was being whipped around sharply by speculators and investors grappling with the massive market moves the previous day. By late morning it was around 113.30 yen, still higher than Toyota's 115 yen to the dollar assumption for the current business year to March 2008. Trade was moderate with 1.1 billion shares changing hands on the Tokyo exchange's first section, almost in line with last week's morning average of 1.3 billion shares. Declining stocks outnumbered advancers by a ratio of nearly seven to one. EXPORTERS HIT Shares of Toyota fell 4.4 percent to 6,380 yen, consumer electronics maker Sony Corp. declined 4.4 percent to 5,180 yen, and camera and office equipment giant Canon Inc. lost 4.9 percent to 5,620 yen. In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial Group gained 2.6 percent to 683,000 yen, snapping a five-day losing streak, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group climbed 1.8 percent to 1.13 million yen. Elsewhere, KDDI Corp. , Japan's second-biggest phone company, jumped 4.4 percent to 874,000 yen, bucking the strong yen for a second straight day of rises. "Amid selling of exporters due to the strong yen, this is being bought as a defensive stock due to domestic demand," said a manager in the equity department of a second-tier securities firm. KDDI also rose on Thursday after JP Morgan initiated coverage of the firm at an "Overweight" rating. |
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