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Business Recorder
10-07-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
Nikkei slips as election, US tariffs weigh
TOKYO: Japan's Nikkei share gauge slid on Thursday, snapping a two-day advance, as trade frictions and an upcoming election weighed on investor sentiment. The Nikkei 225 Index lost 0.6% to 39,646.36, while the broader Topix shed 0.6%. The Nikkei closed above the psychological level of 40,000 on June 27 for the first time since early January, but since then has hovered mostly below that line. 'The Nikkei has been struggling to move higher ahead of the 40,000 mark,' said Wataru Akiyama, a strategist at Nomura Securities. 'The stock market may be taking a wait-and-see attitude given the lack of progress in the Japan-US tariff negotiations and the upper house election.' Retailer Aeon plunged 4.9% after postponing its earnings announcement due to the discovery of inappropriate accounting practices at a Vietnamese subsidiary.
Business Recorder
10-07-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
Japan's Nikkei slips as election, US tariffs weigh; Disco gains
TOKYO: Japan's Nikkei share gauge slipped on Thursday, stalling ahead of the key 40,000 level, as trade frictions and an upcoming election weighed on investor sentiment. The Nikkei 225 Index lost 0.6% to 39,584.11 after two days of gains. The broader Topix shed 0.8%. Retailer Aeon plunged 3.5% after postponing its earnings announcement due to the discovery of inappropriate accounting practices at a Vietnamese subsidiary. Chip-maker supplier Disco led gains with a 4.3% surge after it raised its first-quarter earnings forecast, citing strong demand related to artificial intelligence. Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump announced 25% tariffs on Japan and other trade partners starting August 1, a date he said was final. Export-dependent Japan remains an outlier among the US's key trading partners, with multiple rounds of trade talks failing to produce a breakthrough. Meanwhile, Japanese policymakers are increasingly focused on a critical upcoming election on July 20. 'The Nikkei has been struggling to move higher ahead of the 40,000 mark,' said Wataru Akiyama, a strategist at Nomura Securities. 'The stock market may be taking a wait-and-see attitude given the lack of progress in the Japan-US tariff negotiations and the upper house election.' Japan is seeking talks between its tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during the latter's visit to Japan for the World Expo next week, the Yomiuri newspaper reported, citing Japanese government sources. There were 40 advancers on the Nikkei against 180 decliners. The biggest losers by percentage were Nikon, down 4.68%, followed by Tokyo Electric, which slid 3.9%. The biggest percentage gainers were Disco, followed by Rakuten Group, which rose 4%.
Business Recorder
01-07-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
JGBs rise after strong auction for 10-year bonds
TOKYO: Japanese government bonds rose following strong demand at an auction for 10-year bonds, prompting investors to cover short positions. The 10-year JGB yield fell 4 basis points (bps) to 1.39% after the auction outcome was announced. Bond yields move inversely to prices. The bid-to-cover ratio was 3.51 times the amount sold, lower than the 3.66 ratio at the previous auction, the finance ministry's data showed. But the lowest accepted price was higher than the market forecast, signalling a robust outcome, strategists said. 'The strong outcome was a surprise and the market covered short positions they made ahead of the auction,' said Tomoaki Shishido, senior rates strategist at Nomura Securities. There seemed to be a significant number of institutions that bought the bonds directly from the ministry, said Katsutoshi Inadome, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management. 'Such institutions typically hold the bonds for the long term. They wanted to do so because prospects for the Bank of Japan's rate hike are weak,' Inadome said. The 20-year JGB yield fell 3 bps to 2.32%. The 30-year JGB yield fell 0.5 bp to 2.905%. The two-year JGB yield fell 1 bp to 0.735%. The five-year yield fell 2 bps to 0.96%.
Ammon
26-06-2025
- Business
- Ammon
Oil rises as draw in US crude stocks signals firm demand
Ammon News - Oil prices inched higher on Thursday, extending gains from the previous day as a larger-than-expected draw in U.S. crude stocks signalled firm demand, while investors remained cautious about the Iran-Israel ceasefire and stability in the Middle East. Brent crude futures rose 53 cents, or 0.8%, to $68.21 a barrel by 0630 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained 56 cents, or 0.9%, to $65.48 a barrel. Both benchmarks climbed nearly 1% on Wednesday, recovering from early-week losses after data showed resilient U.S. demand. "Some buyers are favouring solid demand indicated by falling inventories in U.S. weekly statistics," said Yuki Takashima, economist at Nomura Securities. "But investors remain nervous, seeking clarity on the status of the Iran-Israel ceasefire," he said, adding that market attention is now shifting to OPEC+ production levels. U.S. crude oil and fuel inventories fell in the week to June 20 as refining activity and demand rose, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.
Zawya
26-06-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Japan hits M&A record of $232bln, driving Asia deals rebound
TOKYO/HONG KONG - Japan is driving Asia's M&A rebound in 2025 with a record $232 billion worth of deals in the first half, and bankers expect the trend to sustain fuelled by multi-billion dollar take-private arrangements, outbound investments and private equity activity. Management reforms to tackle chronic low valuations among Japanese firms are spurring a flurry of foreign and activist investor interest, while Japan's low interest rates - which support deals - mean the appetite for more deals remains strong, bankers say. The deals involving Japanese companies more than tripled in value in the first half, while in the same period Asia M&A value reached $650 billion, more than double the amount year-on-year, LSEG data showed. Bankers say government calls for better corporate governance, including the privatisation of listed subsidiaries, as well as outbound acquisitions by Japanese firms seeking new growth avenues will keep igniting mega deals. Moreover, Japan has been relatively insulated from global volatility despite the broader geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty, helping to underpin deals momentum, they say. A cohort of Toyota Motor group companies and telecoms giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone took private listed subsidiaries in deals worth $34.6 billion and $16.5 billion respectively, among the largest transactions globally. "There are many other deals like these on the way and their number is increasing," said Kei Nitta, global head of M&A at Nomura Securities. SoftBank Group also led a new fundraising of up to $40 billion into ChatGPT maker OpenAI in the biggest private tech funding round in history. The long-standing trend of Japanese firms looking abroad for growth opportunities in the face of a shrinking home market has continued despite heightened uncertainty in the global economy. Japanese financial institutions, such as insurer Dai-ichi Life and Nomura Holdings, announced major deals and bankers say demand remains robust across industries. "Debates over tariffs and foreign conflicts mean that some investment decisions are taking longer than usual and some customers have become more cautious, but we consider appetite for investment itself to remain very strong," Nitta said. Japanese firms themselves have also become more attractive acquisition targets as global firms have reconsidered their supply chains and distribution of resources over the past two years, Nitta added. However, there are some hurdles that could slow dealmaking in Japan. Uncertainty around the global economic outlook has made assessing companies' future prospects more difficult, leading to a disconnect in valuation expectations between buyers and sellers. This has caused an increasing number of deals to fail, said Atsushi Tatsuguchi, head of the M&A advisory group at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities. As part of the corporate reform drive, firms are under rising pressure to offload non-core business units, with private equity funds increasingly the destination for the hived off parts. Convenience store operator Seven & I Holdings – itself the target of a buyout bid from Canadian rival Alimentation Couche-Tard – sold off a bundle of its superstores and other peripheral business units to Bain Capital for some $5.5 billion in March. "Carve-outs of operating companies' non-core assets will continue to be a trend in the near term," said senior deputy head of M&A advisory at SMBC Nikko Securities, Yusuke Ishimaru. Bankers say there is a strong pipeline of potential deals involving private equity firms. Potential deals to be announced in the second half include an acquisition of Japanese cybersecurity firm Trend Micro which has a market value of 1.32 trillion yen ($8.54 billion). Bidders included Bain Capital and EQT, Reuters reported earlier this year. "Private equity funds are also seen as promising buyers for taking listed companies private," Ishimaru said.
