H James -- thought you might find this interesting.
Tuesday March 30, 1:54 am Eastern Time
(Note: this article is ''in progress''; there will likely be an update soon.)
Nikkei ends down as jobless chill cools Dow thrill
By Hiroko Nakata
TOKYO, March 30 (Reuters) - Tokyo stocks closed lower on Tuesday, as initial
euphoria over Wall Street's record close was cooled by record high February jobless figures, traders said.
The Nikkei 225 average finished down 149.72 points or 0.94 percent at 15,859.12 after climbing to a high of
16,184.54.
June Nikkei futures slipped 160 points to end at 15,850.
''People who bet on the Dow's rally unloaded what they had gotten,'' said Tetsuya Ishijima, chief strategist at Okasan
Securities Co Ltd.
Traders said the Nikkei's initial rise was clouded by fragility in the Japanese economy, shown in the employment data
released on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, the Japanese government said the unemployment rate jumped to an all-time high of 4.6 percent in
February, up 0.2 percentage point from the previous month.
''Stock trading right now is a tug of war between hopes for the economy and its status quo,'' Ishijima said.
Job data were released one day after market hopes for an economic turnaround were hurt by data that showed an
unexpected 0.6 percent fall in industrial output in February.
A total of 464.12 million shares changed hands on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, against 378.62
million shares on Monday.
Despite the day's fall, some analysts remained optimistic.
''The higher the Dow moves, the better it is for Japanese stocks, as investors are interested in moving money into Japan
as a hedge against a fall in New York,'' said Jeremy Markwick-Smith, a salesman at Paribas Capital Markets.
Broader indices were mixed. The TOPIX index of all first-section shares was up 0.57 point or 0.04 percent to
1,269.24. The Nikkei 300 slipped 0.19 point or 0.07 percent at 254.49. The second section index climbed 21.76
points or 1.39 percent to 1,582.51.
Decliners outpaced advancers 760 to 452, while 99 issues were unchanged.
At the opening, the key Nikkei 225 average rallied in response to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which finished
above 10,000-mark for the first time ever on Monday.
But dealers aiming to take quick profits squared positions after the benchmark Nikkei average in the morning failed to
break through 16,200, a level that has capped its rise for the past two sessions, traders said.
They said despite this, underlying sentiment was supported by news about a series of proposed alliances and mergers
among firms including Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp (NTT) and by expectations that foreign investors will
continue to seek after Japanese stocks.
(Note: this article is ''in progress''; there will likely be an update soon.) |
