The Nikkei Average is down and the Topix is close behind with a loss.The culprits, as usual, are a tumble for U.S. shares and a jump in the yen (dollar is currently at ¥101.36 compared to ¥102.13 a day earlier).
As you would expect, the blue-chip exporters are getting the brunt of the punishment: Hitachi is down 3.3%, Olympus is down 3.9%, Renesas is down 3.6%, Fuji Heavy (the maker of Subaru cars) is down 3.5%, and so on.
Retail is taking a hit as Fast Retailing, best known for its Uniqlo clothing chain, is 6.5% lower after warning investors of a roughly 1.4% drop for first-half group net profit. That warning appears to have harshed the collective buzz of rivals Aeon (down 2.2%) and J. Front (down 3.3%), though Takashimaya is outperforming with a fall of “only” 1%.
Other notable losers this morning include brokers (Nomura down 2.7%, Daiwa down 3.3%) and telecoms (Softbank down a whopping 4.9% given its large dollar exposure via Sprint, while KDDI is off 3.5%, and DoCoMo is 1.5% lower).
But Sumitomo Metal Mining is laughing at it all, with its shares trading 1.3% higher, as the stock adds to previous gains on the back of U.S. rival Alcoa’s forecast-beating results and bullish forecast for this year’s aluminum demand. Likewise, Nippon Steel is escaping the selloff with a relatively light 0.3% loss.
As you would expect, the blue-chip exporters are getting the brunt of the punishment: Hitachi is down 3.3%, Olympus is down 3.9%, Renesas is down 3.6%, Fuji Heavy (the maker of Subaru cars) is down 3.5%, and so on.
Retail is taking a hit as Fast Retailing, best known for its Uniqlo clothing chain, is 6.5% lower after warning investors of a roughly 1.4% drop for first-half group net profit. That warning appears to have harshed the collective buzz of rivals Aeon (down 2.2%) and J. Front (down 3.3%), though Takashimaya is outperforming with a fall of “only” 1%.
Other notable losers this morning include brokers (Nomura down 2.7%, Daiwa down 3.3%) and telecoms (Softbank down a whopping 4.9% given its large dollar exposure via Sprint, while KDDI is off 3.5%, and DoCoMo is 1.5% lower).
But Sumitomo Metal Mining is laughing at it all, with its shares trading 1.3% higher, as the stock adds to previous gains on the back of U.S. rival Alcoa’s forecast-beating results and bullish forecast for this year’s aluminum demand. Likewise, Nippon Steel is escaping the selloff with a relatively light 0.3% loss.