Nikkei rises as yen weakens, but Fast Retailing limits gains Japan's Nikkei rose on Friday in volatile trade, reversing earlier weakness as the dollar firmed against the yen, lifting risk appetite, but a sharp drop in Fast Retailing shares limited gains on the benchmark. The Nikkei share average gained 0.5 percent to 15,821.52, crawling back from its intraday low of 15,471.80. For the week, it dropped 2.1 percent. Fast Retailing Co shares plummeted 13 percent after it cut its net profit forecast by half, citing significant declines in first-half operating income from its Uniqlo brand outlets in Japan and abroad. It contributed a hefty negative 153 points to the Nikkei. The broader Topix gained 1.2 percent to 1,287.69 and the JPX-Nikkei Index 400 added 1.2 percent to 11,622.30. LINK - http://www.reuters.com/article/japan-stocks-close-idUSL3N17B20B
Yen slips as Japan finance minister warns on intervention The yen retreated broadly on Friday after posting gains this week, weighed by warnings overnight from Japan's finance minister of possible intervention by the government to weaken the currency. Gains in global stock markets and oil prices also bolstered the market's appetite for risk, diminishing the appeal of the safe-haven yen. The yen surged as much as 2 percent against the dollar on Thursday. Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso responded early on Friday by warning that rapid currency moves were "undesirable," and the yen's moves were "one-sided." That is language that Tokyo has used in the past to flag intervention. The yen has rallied to 17-month highs against the dollar, but investors expect Japanese policy makers to hold fire on a rate decision at least until after next week's G20 meetings in Washington. "The speed of the yen's move is going to be more important than levels when it comes to intervention," said Alan Ruskin, global head of FX strategy at Deutsche Bank in New York. "Dollar/yen at 105 yen is still well above medium-term valuation estimates where the yen can be seen as expensive. The much more solid justification for intervention that Japan can make ... is that the speed of the move is disruptive to the Japanese economy and perhaps the global economy." In late trading, the dollar fell 0.1 percent against the yen to 108.26 yen JPY=. This week, the dollar has fallen 3.0 percent, its worst weekly performance since mid-February. So far this year, the yen has gained more than 11 percent versus the dollar, on pace for its strongest yearly gain in six years. The dollar was down 0.3 percent against a basket of currencies, trading at 94.231 .DXY, as the greenback slipped versus the Swiss franc to 0.9538 franc and fell against the Canadian dollar to C$1.2988 CAD=. A Reuters poll of strategists showed on Thursday that the broader dollar rally that began in mid-2014 has nearly run its course and will only pick up slightly over the coming year. The euro, meanwhile, rose 0.2 percent against the dollar to $1.1398 EUR=. On Thursday, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said the Fed was on course to tighten rates gradually, which gave the dollar some relief. Yellen's statement last week that the Fed should proceed cautiously in light of looming global risks to the U.S. economy has been at the heart of sharp falls over the past 10 days for the dollar against the euro and yen. LINK - http://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-forex-idUSKCN0X502Y
Yen touches fresh 17-month highs, draws warning from Tokyo Demand for the yen showed little signs of abating on Monday, with the currency reaching a fresh 17-month high, prompting the Japanese government to warn that it could take steps to weaken the exchange rate. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference the government was closely monitoring the foreign exchange market with a sense of urgency, noting the yen moves were one-sided and speculative. The dollar fell as far as 107.63 yen JPY=, surpassing last week's trough of 107.67 and extending last week's 3.3 percent drop. It has since drifted back to 107.91, down 0.2 percent on the day. Analysts said part of the reason for the yen's eye-catching rally was due to the unwinding of very bearish positions as investors gave up on a hike in U.S. interest rates this year. "If there are clearer signs that a rate hike by the Federal Reserve is imminent, the dollar/yen could find a bottom. But it seems like that has to wait for some time," said Masatoshi Omata, senior client manager of forex trading at Resona Bank. The unwelcome gain in the yen has increased the pressure on Japanese authorities to take steps to deal with it. Japan's top government spokesman said the Group of 20's agreement to avoid competitive currency devaluation does not mean Japan cannot intervene in response to one-sided currency moves. Yet many traders say verbal intervention would have limited impact given that the yen is hardly strong at current levels. Credit Suisse said the yen was still "rather cheap" by valuation even after last week's surge, with its currency matrix putting the long-term fair value near 90.00. "It will be difficult for the BOJ to sell the JPY as it is deemed as undervalued," said Koon How Heng, an FX analyst at Credit Suisse. The euro bought 122.95 yen EURJPY=R, having shed 3.1 percent last week while the sterling fell to 152.08 yen GBPJPY=, near 2 1/2-year low of 151.88 touched on Thursday. Against the greenback, the common currency stood at $1.1410 EUR=, not far from a six-month peak of $1.1454. Another currency in favour is the Canadian dollar, which posted its best weekly performance in over three weeks on Friday as oil prices jumped. The loonie was last at C$1.2993 per U.S. dollar CAD=D4, not far off a one-week high of C$1.2952 set on Friday. U.S. crude CLc1 is up over 0.3 percent early on Monday, extending Friday's 6.6 percent surge on hopes that global oversupply may be approaching a tipping point after nearly two years. Currencies showed muted a response to data showing China's consumer price inflation was less than expected in March, flattening out after a four-month strengthening trend. LINK - http://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-forex-idUSKCN0X8001
Japan's Topix Heads for 2-Month High, Yen Drops Amid Easing Bets Japanese stocks rose for a third day, with the Topix index headed for its highest close since February, as the yen maintained losses amid expectations for more monetary easing and higher oil prices. Read full article here: http://bloom.bg/1XJtT3W
Japan Stocks Fall From 11-Week High as Tech Earnings Disappoint Japanese stocks fell from an 11-week high as the yen held gains and earnings by technology companies from Sony Corp. to Alphabet Inc. halted equity rallies in Tokyo and New York. Read full article here: http://bloom.bg/1pmRCeh
Something to keep in mind when in the past I have spoken about the invisible hand lol.. When one has this much control and ownership that invisible hand can very easily direct the direction of stocks and index. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-...nk-japan-now-top-10-holder-90-japanese-stocks
Japan Shares Rise as Yen Drops After Yellen, Boosting Automakers Japanese stocks rose, with the benchmark equity gauge on course for its highest level in a month, as growing certainty the U.S. is headed toward an interest rate hike sent the dollar higher against the yen, boosting exporters. Read full article here: http://bloom.bg/1X6FMnZ
YEN is happy with interest rate hike. Could bring YEN back to 115 although a no hike would send it crashing down back to 107. Either a trap now at 111.35 or a trend reversal
On December 20/2016 the Tokyo Stock Exchange will remain close. here are the list of tokyo stock exchange holidays.
Nikkei: All It Does Is Win Oct 31, 2017 When settling into our desks this morning and checking out how international markets performed overnight, we had to do a double-take when the color next to Japan’s Nikkei 225 was actually red. Sure it was a drop of just 0.0003%, but it was a decline nonetheless. And that’s something we haven’t been accustomed to seeing for Japanese stocks this month. In fact, for the entire month of October, the Nikkei traded down on the day just two times out of 21 trading days! That works out to up days on just over 90% of all trading days and is a level of consistency that has never been seen before. Since 1970, there have only been three months where the Nikkei traded higher on 85% or more of a month’s trading days, and the other two months were in May 2015 (88.9%) and March 1986 (85%). Each of those three months are highlighted in the chart below, and the performance of the Nikkei following the two prior months is summarized in the table below. The Nikkei’s performance following each of those prior two experiences couldn’t be more different. Back in 1986, the Nikkei was in the middle of an epic bull run that lasted another three years, while the occurrence in May 2015 was followed by a relatively steep decline and then a period of consolidation that continued right up until this month when the Nikkei finally made another multi-year high in mid-October.
Does anyone have thoughts on Kurita Water Industries (6370.T)? For the past 70 years, they have provided water treatment chemicals as well as maintenance services for clients who want to use water more efficiently in their production businesses. Very little debt and it seems to have the most growth potential out of the three publicly-traded businesses in Japan in that sector that I found. As far as I can tell, this type of business isn't that focused on the exchange rate for the Yen compared to export-type businesses, but correct me if I'm wrong. If that's the case then that's a nice change compared to other Japanese stocks. It just seems practical to have water-related exposure in your portfolio somewhere, as water seems to be almost as important to industry as oil, and pollution of water resources is a huge problem globally. https://quotes.wsj.com/JP/XTKS/6370 (Wall Street Journal) https://ir.kurita.co.jp/en/ (Official investor relations page) Some backstory, I don't have any stocks on foreign exchanges in my portfolio yet, but I have contacted TD Webbroker's trading desk (up here in Canada), and they can place foreign buy/sell orders, around the price of $150-180 CDN. That's a lot, so I have researched a lot of foreign stocks before making a decision on which to buy for the long term and Kurita seems to be at the top of my list.
