LOS ANGELES: Japanese stocks started the week on a weak note, with the Nikkei Average NIK, -0.95% down 0.8% in early Monday trade and the Topix down 0.6%. While the dollar USDJPY, +0.16% remained firm against the yen (buying ¥120.65, not far from its post-crisis high), a downward revision to Japanese economic growth helped grease the skids for a slide in the main indexes, all the more so after Friday’s 1.2% advance for the Nikkei Average likely encouraged some investors to book profits.
Data released just ahead of the open showed Japan’s gross domestic product rose an annualized 1.5% rather than the initial read of 2.2%, though Capital Economics said the revision was due entirely to a drag from inventories, and private consumption was actually revised upward. Still, many of the blue chips fell back, with Hitachi Ltd. 6501, -0.97% HTHIF, +0.44% and Softbank Corp. 9984, -1.03% SFTBF, -1.37% down 1.1% each, TDK Corp. 6762, -0.47% TTDKF, +10.61% down 1.7%, and Toshiba Corp. 6502, -1.97% TOSYY, -0.70% down 1.9%. Automakers took less of a hit, as Toyota Motor Corp. 7203, -0.29% TM, -0.01% lost 0.6%, Nissan Motor Co. 7201, -0.40% NSANY, -0.78% fell 1%, and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. 7270, -0.39% FUJHF, -0.86% gave up 0.5%. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. 8306, +0.31% MTU, +1.10% was the weakest of the megabanks, its shares down 1.1% as a Nikkei report quoted unidentified sources at the bank as saying the lender would spend close to $2.5 billion over the next three years to grow its asset-management and administration businesses. On the upside, Japan Display Inc. 6740, +0.63% rose 2.9% amid news that key client Apple Inc. AAPL, +0.15% will pick up most of the bill for a new $1.4 billion smartphone-panel factory in Japan, according to the Nikkei.
