| To: StanX Long who wrote (60822) | 2/25/2002 1:51:45 AM | | From: StanX Long | | | | Asian Stocks: Japan's Fanuc, Exporters Fall; Hong Kong Declines
By Tomoko Yamazaki
02/25 01:04
quote.bloomberg.com
Tokyo, Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average fell for the first day in three, led by exporters such as Fanuc Ltd. after the yen had its biggest gain in more than a week, reducing the value of their overseas sales.
``The yen's sudden gain triggered selling among exporters,'' Makoto Suzuki, who helps manage $1.1 billion in Japanese equities at Chuo Mitsui Asset Management Co. ``The yen may strengthen further before the fiscal year-end.''
The Nikkei 225 stock average shed 0.6 percent to 10,296.47, while the Topix fell 0.2 percent to 987.12. Banks were the Topix index's biggest gainers as a group on hopes they will speed up their bad loan write-offs after the government announces measures to support the market on Wednesday.
In other markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.6 percent, after Global Crossing Ltd. shareholders opposed Hutchison Whampoa Ltd.'s plan to buy a stake in the fiber-optic network operator. Korea's Kospi index dropped 0.1 percent, led by Pohang Iron & Steel Co. and other steelmakers, on concern the 26 percent gain as a group in the past two weeks already reflects increasing prices of the metal. |
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| To: StanX Long who wrote (60929) | 2/25/2002 1:52:42 AM | | From: StanX Long | | | | Yen Has Biggest Gain in Seven Days as Japan Trade Surplus Rises
By Mari Murayama and Kanako Chiba
02/25 00:23
quote.bloomberg.com
Tokyo, Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) -- The yen had its biggest gain in more than a week after a report showed Japan's exports rose in January at the fastest pace in two years, leaving the companies with more money to convert into their home currency.
The yen was also helped as Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said the government would provide public funds to banks should ongoing Financial Services Agency inspections of lenders find it necessary.
Japan's currency strengthened to 133.86 a dollar from 134.15 in New York late trading Friday, its biggest gain since Feb. 14. It fell 1.2 percent last week. Against the euro, it climbed to 117.10 from 117.37, snapping a two-day loss.
``The trade surplus should support the yen,'' said Marshall Gittler, head of Asian currency strategy at Bank of America Corp. in Tokyo. |
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| To: StanX Long who wrote (60930) | 2/25/2002 1:55:48 AM | | From: StanX Long | | | | NEC May Post Losses at Telecom-Gear Unit Until Sept. (Update1)
By Minoru Matsutani and Yoshifumi Takemoto
02/24 22:21
quote.bloomberg.com
Tokyo, Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) -- NEC Corp., whose shares are the second-worst performing on the Nikkei 225 stock average this year, said its communications equipment unit may post losses until the end of September as telephone network operators curtail spending.
``It will be difficult to post a profit in the January to March period,'' Mineo Sugiyama, a senior executive vice president at NEC, Japan's largest telecommunications-equipment maker, said in an interview. ``The bottom will be in the second half (the six months ending March 2003).''
NEC counts among its customers companies such as Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp., NTT DoCoMo Inc. and AT&T Corp., all of which have a glut of equipment, Sugiyama said. Investors are concerned NEC, whose semiconductor business is already recording losses, will have difficulty returning to profit after projecting a record $2.25 billion loss this fiscal year.
The declining fortunes of the unit means that ``basically, NEC has no core businesses,'' said Hideki Kamiya, who manages 10 billion yen ($75 million) at Asahi Tokyo Investment Trust Management Co., which holds NEC shares. ``Carriers don't have money. I'm not sure whether the telecom-equipment business can be a core business for NEC.''
NEC will have difficulty generating profit in a market where the biggest player, Nortel Networks Corp., has posted losses for eight straight quarters, Kamiya said. |
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| To: StanX Long who wrote (60931) | 2/25/2002 1:57:37 AM | | From: StanX Long | | | | Hynix Creditors Are Preparing Counterproposal to Bid By Micron Technology
bloomberg.com
The creditors of Hynix Semiconductor Inc., the ailing No. 3 computer-memory-chip maker, said they are preparing a counterproposal to a purchase offer from rival Micron Technology Inc., as the two companies try to complete an agreement by the end of this month. |
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| To: StanX Long who wrote (60933) | 2/25/2002 1:59:58 AM | | From: StanX Long | | | | Asian Server Market Shrank 17% With Economy in Fourth Quarter, IDC Says
bloomberg.com
Asia's market for computer servers, which dish up Web pages, declined for the third-straight quarter in the last three months of 2001 after the region's economic slump sapped demand, International Data Corp. |
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| To: StanX Long who wrote (60934) | 2/25/2002 2:03:00 AM | | From: StanX Long | | | | US buying boosts Japanese trade
Monday, 25 February, 2002, 06:09 GMT
news.bbc.co.uk
The Japanese are buying fewer foreign goods
Resurgent US shoppers have provided Japan with a rare break in the dark clouds shrouding its economy, buying more Japanese goods and raising hopes that the export trade may have turned the corner.
Exports from Japan rose faster than any time in the past two years, the Ministry of Finance in Tokyo said, to 188.1bn yen ($1.4bn; £980m) in January.
Although the figure was still down 1.8% from January 2001 by value - and 1.9% by volume - the falls were the smallest since the middle of last year. |
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| To: StanX Long who wrote (60935) | 2/25/2002 2:13:55 AM | | From: StanX Long | | | | Recovery May Leave Consumers Behind
February 24, 2002 4:01:00 PM ET
news.moneycentral.msn.com
By Ellen Freilich
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The recession the U.S. economy experienced last year was a mild one, thanks to the power of the American pocketbook, which allowed consumers to spend even as business profits collapsed.
But as the economy starts to recover and profits at some businesses improve, American workers and consumers may feel a pinch as corporations try to cut down labor costs.
``At every meeting,'' said a product manager at a West Coast bank, ``my boss tells us, 'Everyone worked hard last year and their efforts were appreciated. But remind your people that the company didn't make money, so make sure their expectations (for salary and bonuses) are where they should be.'''
This relationship between corporate profits and Americans' income and spending power means economic growth in the first year of recovery will probably be more subdued than in the first years after previous recessions, economists said.
Goldman Sachs & Co. economist Jan Hatzius said that means 2002 might look like a mirror image of 2001. Last year's strong wage increases crushed corporate profit margins, but helped consumer spending stay strong. This year, margins will probably recover some of their lost ground, but a slowdown in wage growth will weigh on real incomes and consumer spending.
After-tax income is what drives consumer spending, said Dana Johnson, managing director and head of research at Banc One Capital Markets. |
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| To: StanX Long who wrote (60936) | 2/25/2002 3:29:58 AM | | From: StanX Long | | | | Nokia sees China handset revenues up 20 pct in '02
Reuters, 02.25.02, 3:09 AM ET
forbes.com
BEIJING, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Finnish cellphone giant Nokia expects the revenues from its handset sales in China to grow by more than 20 percent this year, a top executive in China said on Monday.
By introducing new high-end models, Nokia hopes to win market share and boost the average selling price of its phones in China, David Hartley, general manager of Nokia's mobile phone unit in China told Reuters.
That would allow Nokia's revenues to grow faster than the total market for handsets in China, the world's biggest mobile phone market, which executives at the company said earlier this month would grow by at least 10-15 percent this year.
"We expect our revenue growth to be greater than 20 percent this year in China," Hartley said in an interview.
Copyright 2002, Reuters News Service |
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| To: StanX Long who wrote (60937) | 2/25/2002 3:35:19 AM | | From: StanX Long | | | | Hitachi expected to miss earnings targets
sg.biz.yahoo.com
Monday February 25, 3:59 PM
TOKYO (Reuters) - Hitachi Ltd, Japan's largest electronics maker, will likely miss earnings targets for the current year through March, as slack demand for communications and industrial equipment adds to its woes, analysts and media said.
The Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily said over the weekend that Hitachi's net loss in the year to March 31 would exceed 300 billion yen ($2.24 billion), surpassing the company's latest official forecast in October of a loss of 230 billion yen.
Hitachi, like Japan's four other chipmaking conglomerates, was hit hard by last year's slump in the semiconductor industry.
The chip sector has since shown signs of bottoming out, but the conglomerates are being hit by a further slowdown in spending on telecommunications infrastructure and industrial equipment, especially in the sluggish domestic market.
The report did not surprise the market, which had braced for further bad news from Japan's chip and industrial electronics firms after Toshiba Corp <6502>, NEC Corp <6701> and Fujitsu Ltd <6702> raised 2001/02 loss forecasts in late January.
Hitachi's shares closed up 0.50 percent at 808 yen, outperforming a 0.58 percent fall in the benchmark Nikkei average.
The Nihon Keizai also said Hitachi's 2001/02 consolidated operating loss, estimated in October at 30 billion yen, would likely be close to 100 billion yen, its worst ever. |
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