Japanese stocks fell last week, led by Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc and other lenders, as plans by the nation's five-biggest banks to sell shares increased concerns that shareholders will have their holdings diluted.
The Nikkei 225 Stock Average declined 2.2 percent for the week, while the TOPIX index shed 2.1 percent. Japan's top five lenders, including Mizuho Holdings Inc, plan to raise ¥2 trillion (US$2.5 billion) by the end of March -- a fifth more than total Japanese stock sales last year -- to replenish funds used to write off bad loans.
Japan's top four banks were among the 10 biggest losers on the Nikkei last week with Sumitomo Mitsui the worst, slumping 22 percent to become the most active stock for the past five days.
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Japan's No. 2 bank, sold 300 billion yen of preferred securities to overseas investors. Some investors had sold the stock to lower the conversion price on the new shares.
The lender announced earlier last week that it would sell 100,000 preferred shares that could be changed into common shares as early as April.
Other banks dropped on concern that their efforts to raise capital will dilute the value of existing shares. Mizuho Holdings Inc, which is asking its corporate clients to buy ¥850 billion of preferred stock, slipped 18 percent this week. UFJ Holdings Inc, which is getting a ¥120 billion investment from Merrill Lynch & Co, slid 16 percent in the past five days.
South Korea
South Korea's KOSPI index rallied 4.9 percent, its biggest weekly gain since the five days ended Oct. 19. The benchmark rose after comments by US President George W. Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair allayed concerns a war with Iraq may be delayed or averted.
Samsung Electronics jumped 11 percent last week, leading the KOSPI higher.
The company generates about a fifth of its sales in the US where it supplies memory chips to companies such as Dell Computer Corp.
LG Electronics Inc, which exports 60 percent of its products such as refrigerators and air conditioners, rose 9.7 percent.
TAIWAN
For the week, the TAIEX Index rose 1.2 percent, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 0.1 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 0.5 percent.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manu-facturing Co (TSMC,
"There's a sense of relief in the market that the US won't rush into war without the commitment of the international community and that's working for stocks," said Sadaji Shibata, who oversees about US$68 billion in assets as chief investment officer at Daiwa Asset Management Co in Tokyo.
Japanese exporters such as Honda Motor Co and Fuji Photo Film Co were among the 10 biggest contributors to the TOPIX's gain last week, after a report on US industrial production signaled that overseas demand may recover.
Honda, the world's No. 3 automaker by market value, expects North American sales to jump 11 percent to 1.52 million autos for the business year to March 31, 2003.
Fuji Photo added 1.4 percent. Shares of Fuji Photo Film were reiterated "overweight" by JP Morgan analyst Hisashi Moriyama last week.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure
RSS