el paradisio,
Don't worry,I am always bullish to the last point....>
That's ok, I'm bearish to the end, although that doesn't prevent me from trading on the long side.
Happenings in Japan...
Friday April 28, 1:45 am Eastern Time
Nikkei down in afternoon, Sogo weighs on lenders
TOKYO, April 28 (Reuters) - Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei average turned lower on Friday afternoon as bank shares were dragged down by renewed concerns about problem loans, traders said.
Department store operator Sogo Co Ltd earlier this month asked creditors to forgive 639 billion yen ($6 billion) in debt, the largest amount ever requested from creditor banks, stoking worries about non-performing loans at major banks.
Such concerns were heightened further on Friday following news that a Sogo vice president overseeing the firm's efforts to tackle its heavy debts had committed suicide.
``The Sogo situation raised the spectre of bad loan problems for banks, although there also seems to be some selling related to the unwinding of cross-held shares,'' said Hiroshi Sato, an equities manager at Cosmo Securities.
The benchmark Nikkei average was down 2.96 points or 0.02 percent at 18,016.21 at 0512 GMT after finishing the morning up 0.65 percent at 18,137.01.
Sogo's largest creditor, Industrial Bank of Japan Ltd , fell 4.26 percent to 900 yen and Sogo itself was down 21.21 percent at 52 yen.
The June futures contract <0#JNI:> fell 110 points to 17,980.
-- Besides Industrial Bank of Japan, Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank Ltd fell 4.11 percent to 887 yen, Sakura Bank Ltd lost 3.54 percent to 763 yen and Fuji Bank Ltd was down 4.4 percent at 913 yen.
-- Among core Internet stocks, Softbank Corp rose 6.69 percent to 26,780 yen, while Hikari Tsushin Inc was up 11.59 percent at 15,400, staging a rebound after falling by its daily limit for 20 consecutive sessions. MW: They limit stocks UP and DOWN over there, 5,000 Yen per session for this particular stock...
Market players remained sceptical about whether the recovery in Hikari shares was sustainable, attributing the bounce to speculation the price had finally fallen low enough to attract investors. |
