Softbank closes in Tokyo at $294. I believe that Softbank's inclusion in the Morgan Stanley's MSCI Index has already been mentioned, but here is a little more discussion from Bloomberg:
Softbank, Others Soar as MSCI Inclusion Lifts Demand (Update1)
Softbank, Others Soar as MSCI Inclusion Lifts Demand (Update1) (Closes stock prices, adds to information about Nintendo and Toshiba in first four paragraphs.)
Tokyo, Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Softbank Corp., Nintendo Co. and Toshiba Corp. soared on news the three Japanese technology companies will be added to Morgan Stanley Capital International Inc.'s MSCI indexes, providing a new buying incentive for global investors who use the indexes as a benchmark.
Softbank, whose stakes in more than 100 Internet companies make it one of the world's biggest financiers of online business, rose 6.9 percent to 31,300 yen and finished the session bid-only. Nintendo, Japan's No. 2 home video game maker, jumped 9.8 percent to 18,000 yen. Toshiba, the country's biggest producer of notebook computers, rose 6 percent to 945 and was the most actively traded stock on all exchanges.
Investors bought shares on news the three technology leaders are among 30 companies Morgan Stanley will add to the MSCI standard index for Japan as part of a quarterly reshuffle effective Aug. 31. The MSCI indexes are closely followed by global fund managers, who use them to measure their portfolios' performance. The U.S. investment bank's decision to include Softbank and Nintendo in the MSCI Japan index may also strengthen their candidacy for the country's benchmark Nikkei 225 index. ``The Nikkei 225 is totally out of touch,' said Mahendra Negi, an analyst at Merrill Lynch Japan Inc. ``You've got companies like Kyocera, Rohm, Murata, Hoya, Softbank and Nintendo in MSCI and all these companies are not in the 225.'
The Nikkei 225 is supposed to consist of Japan's top 225 companies but still lists many aging representatives of the country's smokestack economy. The addition of Softbank and Nintendo in that elite group would likely have an even bigger impact on their share prices than their inclusion this month into MSCI's national index for Japan. ``More people are indexed to the 225 than to the MSCI Japan index, so a move into the 225 would actually be much bigger than a move into the MSCI,' said Merrill's Negi.
Morgan Stanley plans to delete 39 companies from the MSCI Japan index, including Chiba Bank Ltd. and Daido Steel Co.
Chiba Bank tumbled 7 percent to 400 yen. Daido slipped 5 percent to 182.
Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc., publisher of the Nihon Keizai business newspapers, established the Nikkei 225 in 1949 and periodically reviews its membership to take account of changes in the market capitalization of companies.
Two high-technology companies, NTT Data Corp. and Clarion Co., joined the Nikkei 225 in March. |
