Hi again Jay,
This is from the street.com, thought you might like to see it.
Softbank now considered an empty internet company, my honest guess is that we will see 23 to 40000 yen before fund managers buy again.
philip and pooi.
Asian Markets Update: Japan Tech Shares
Diverge With Nasdaq
By Kaya Laterman
Japan Correspondent
3/10/00 4:06 AM ET
TOKYO-- The Nasdaq breaks 5000. Japanese tech shares
nosedive. What gives?
Dealers at Japanese securities firms were sticking close to home
Friday as they shed former market darlings, including Hikari
Tsushin and Softbank. Shares in both firms, which are
considered benchmark tech issues, plunged as combination of
profit-taking before the fiscal year-end and nasty rumors tempted
even the sturdiest to unload their holdings.
While blue-chip Old Economy stocks helped the Nikkei 225
stock index close up 88.07 at 19,750.40, swooning New
Economy shares brought down other indices. The Topix index,
which is composed of all shares listed on the Tokyo Stock
Exchange's first section, fell 10.47 to 1633.30. The Jasdaq
small-cap index shed 45.82, or 1.9%, to 117.04, while the Nikkei
over-the-counter shares slipped 45.82, or 1.9%, to 2422.67.
Internet play Hikari Tsushin, already down nearly 59% since
Feb 15, dropped 31,000 yen, or 24.8%, to 94,000. Shares have
been battered by hedge fund and domestic investor selling, the
latter looking to book some quick cash before the close of fiscal
1999 on March 31. An unflattering article in the Bungei Shunju
magazine also helped provoke the slide. The magazine
highlighted the firm's alleged "aggressive" sales tactics, and
suggested it was turning into another "empty" Internet firm.
Traders speculated the other "empty" Internet firm was Softbank,
although it was not featured in the magazine. Shares
nonetheless tumbled 14,800, or 13.0%, to 99,200. Softbank has
a stake in TSC through a U.S. unit.
"After reading the article, I felt like the market had chased prices
(of the two firms) higher solely on hype and not on
fundamentals," said one equity trader at a large Japanese
trading house, who was one of the many who shed Hikari Tsushin
today. "The problem is, after Softbank comes out with its next hit
like Yahoo! Japan, we're all going to be buying them again, but
maybe not as aggressively as before."
Crayfish (CRFH:Nasdaq ADR - news - boards), an email and
Web-hosting firm that saw shares rise over 400% on its first day of
trading on the Nasdaq Wednesday, is facing a host of arbitrage
plays in its debut on the TSE's new high-tech Mothers market.
Shares are ask-only at 53.6 million versus an IPO price of 13.2
million. The TSE stops trading of shares that aren't balanced.
Another firm roiled by rumors was Sony (SNE:NYSE ADR - news -
boards), which saw shares fall 1800, or 6.4%, to 26,300. Talk
started on Thursday with an article in Fastest Gaming News,
which said Sony's recently debuted PlayStation 2 game console
had faulty memory cards. Although Sony is denying the
problems, local reports say Speed Racer wannabes are
complaining about technical glitches in the console's DVD
drives when playing the popular Ridge Racer V driving game.
Hitachi (HIT:NYSE ADR - news - boards) shed 49, or 3.5%, to
1354 after the firm slashed its net profit for fiscal 1999 to 10
billion yen versus its previous estimate of 35 billion yen.
On the upside, Toyota Motor said it would buy a 33.8% stake in
truck manufacturer Hino Motors, giving the former veto-power
over Hino's board. Toyota rose 220, or 4.8%, to 4820.
The greenback eased slightly against the yen to 106.28. The
downside is limited by fears of another Bank of Japan
intervention and expectations that Monday's release of
fourth-quarter gross domestic product will be better than
expected. While the economy is expected to contract, pushing
Japan back into recession, it probably won't be as serious as the
1.4% decline previously forecast. Due to a slight upswing in
private investment figures that were released Thursday, many
economists revised upward their GDP figures today.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index climbed 194.83, or 1.1%, to
17,831.86, thanks to a rally in Hutchison Whampoa
(HUWHY:Nasdaq ADR - news - boards), up HK$8.00, or 5.9%, to
144.50. |
