Japan’s Nikkei index reversed course to close slightly lower on Friday, as concerns regarding corporate profits increased following auto parts maker Denso, which supplies Toyota, cut its forecasts, while a stronger yen also affected exporters.
The Nikkei index closed down 0.05% at 27,801.64 points, following rising 0.7%, earlier in the session. The index declined by 0.4% during the week.
The broader Topix index also fell 0.44% to 1940.31 points, and recorded a weekly loss of 0.8%.
John Morita, general manager of research at Shipagin Asset Management, said the strong yen and Denso’s earnings had soured sentiment.
“Since Denso’s forecast was negative, we imagine that Toyota’s forecast may not be positive,” he added. Denso’s stock fell; One of the main suppliers of Toyota Motor, 5.2%, following the company cut its operating profit forecast for the current year by 14%, while Toyota’s share rose 0.56%, but its competitor Honda Motor’s share declined 1.43%. Hino Motors shares lost 6.53%, and Mitsubishi Motors 5.74%.
NEC’s stock fell 7.47%, becoming the worst performer on the Nikkei index, following the computer manufacturer suffered a loss in the second quarter,
While Advantest rose 4.11%, limiting the Nikkei’s decline following the chip-testing equipment maker raised its expectations and announced a share buyback.
85 shares rose on the Nikkei index, compared to a decline of 137. (Archyde.com)
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Nikkei
Japanese stocks closed higher on Thursday, as investors continued to seek to benefit from a decline in technology shares, with sentiment boosted by the gains made by Wall Street overnight.
The Nikkei index rose 1.47% to close at 26490.53 points, and the broader Topix index rose 1.42% to 1882.33 points.
Wall Street closed higher last night as investors digested the details of the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting minutes, which provided new signals regarding the US central bank’s policy on interest rates and anti-inflation.
The share of Tokyo Electron, which supplies chip-making equipment, rose 1.9%, in the largest support for the Nikkei index, followed by the stock of robotics maker Fanuc, which rose 3.75%, and Daikin Industries added 2.81% of the air conditioning maker.
Travel and leisure stocks fell, with the airlines index and the railway companies index down 0.52% and 0.36%, respectively, amid a rise in coronavirus cases globally.
Department Store chain Takashimaya was the biggest loser on the Nikkei index, dropping 2.69%, followed by rival GFront Co., which dropped 2.28%.
Yukio Sakamoto comments on the gap in China’s semiconductor industry Nikkei Chinese website
written by Alexandra Hartman Editor-in-Chief
Tsinghua Unigroup, a large-scale semiconductor policy-oriented enterprise in China, fell into operational bankruptcy. As an executive of the company, who will lead the development of DRAM for information storage as of 2021 is Yukio Sakamoto, who was born in Texas Instruments (TI) in the United States and was the president of Elpida Memory Company. Including comparisons with Japan and the United States, Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Chinese version: Nikkei Chinese website) interviewed Yukio Sakamoto regarding China’s strength in the semiconductor field and ways for Japan to strengthen its competitiveness.
Reporter: Has the Sino-US confrontation affected the memory chip business?
Yukio Sakamoto:No effect. Because the field of memory chips is excluded from the target of US sanctions. Memory chips are generally regarded as general-purpose goods, and it is difficult to imagine military use without the strategic significance of sanctions.
Reporter: How to evaluate the strength of China’s semiconductor industry?
Yukio Sakamoto:China’s share of world semiconductor production is 15%. However, foreign-funded enterprises such as Intel in the United States accounted for 60%, while the share of Chinese enterprises was only 40%. China’s topic is research and development. Those who are responsible for the development of China’s semiconductor industry are from Taiwan, and most of them are technical talents in process management such as yield improvement. Inexperienced in R&D to create value from scratch.
TSMC and Samsung Electronics, which are leading in technological strength, maintain a balance between engineers in process management and research and development. After listening to the customer’s request, we determine the power and other goals of the semiconductor, and develop the circuit design and manufacturing process.
Reporter: How big is the gap between China and the world’s top level?
Yukio Sakamoto:Changxin Memory Technology (CXMT), which is at the top level in China in the DRAM field, is regarding 4 generations behind Samsung. In the field of NAND memory cards, it is said that China’s top Yangtze Memory Technology (YMTC) will start the mass production of 128 layers (storage components are), although the trial production of 192 layers has been started, but the number of manufacturing is too small to meet the discussion competition level of force.
In the field of logic chips for computing, even China’s top Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), the thinnest circuit line width of its products is only 14 nanometers (a nanometer is 1/1 billionth of a meter), which has been 7 or 8 years. previous technology. The world’s top TSMC is developing 2nm products, and the gap is not closing.
Reporter: How to evaluate the competitiveness of SMIC?
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European shares rose on Thursday, tracking Wall Street’s overnight gains following a widely expected hike in US interest rates, while optimism regarding Russian-Ukrainian peace talks boosted sentiment.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index rose 0.5% by 0819 GMT and is on track to recover all of its losses in March.
Wall Street indices rose, on Wednesday, as investors digested the start of US monetary policy tightening. The Federal Reserve (the US central bank) raised interest rates by a quarter of a point, as expected, and hinted at raising the same amount at every meeting of the year.
Commodity stocks led the morning gains in Europe, as the mining sector index rose 0.7 percent.
The oil sector index rose 0.9 percent, with crude prices increasing by regarding 3 percent, following the International Energy Agency warned of a shortage of supplies.
German ThyssenKrupp shares plunged 6.1 percent following suspending its 2021-2022 forecast for cash flow ahead of mergers and acquisitions due to the Ukraine crisis.
France’s Veolia rose 2.7 percent following the company said it expected to increase net profit more than 20 percent this year following completing its takeover of rival Suez.
Japanese stocks
The Japanese Nikkei index closed, Thursday, at its highest level in more than two weeks, following the path of a strong rise on Wall Street last night, following the Federal Reserve (the US central bank) raised interest rates as expected, while boosting hopes of a breakthrough in Russian-Ukrainian conflict morale.
The Nikkei index jumped 3.46% to 26652.89 points, the highest closing level since the first of March, and the broader Topix index rose 2.47% to 1899.01 points.
Benefit
Wall Street’s main indices rose following the US central bank raised the interest rate for the first time since 2018, and announced a plan for further rate hikes to combat inflation. The SoftBank Investment Group’s share jumped 5.89%, following the rise in the share of Alibaba, one of the group’s holdings, by 40% in US trading. Other leading shares, including Fast Retailing, owner of Uniqlo clothing stores, rose 6.92%, and Tokyo Electron rose 4.86%.
East Japan Railways Corp. fell 1.81% following the railway operator suspended express train operations to Fukushima and other areas in the north. The suspension of operations came following a powerful 7.3-magnitude earthquake rocked Japan’s northeastern coast off Fukushima on Wednesday.
(agencies)