Tokyo equities markets were higher on Friday. The Nikkei 225 added 1 percent to 16,536.54, it’s highest close in five months, while the Topix index added 0.9 percent to 1,628.00. The Mother’s index of small and mid-cap stocks added 5.3 percent to 1,140.02 after losses at the beginning of the week.
The retail sector saw a number of gains. Seven & I was 2.6 percent higher to ¥3,880. Aeon added 3.6 percent to ¥2,760 after it was reported that it would purchase a stake in Daiei, which was up 3.7 percent to ¥1,955 on the news. Aeon later said it would discuss buying 15 percent of Daiei. Discount retail chain Don Quijote gained 7.2 percent to ¥2,310 on an upgrade from “neutral” to “outperform” from Credit Suisse.
The major exception to the gains by retailers came from Fast Retailing, which dropped 2.90 percent to ¥11,240 even though it said its annual earnings were up by 19 percent and that they would be another 10 percent higher next year. The decline came on a downgrade from Mizuho Securities.
There were gains in the electronics sector, as well, with the exception of game machine manufacturer Sega Sammy, which fell 7.7 percent to ¥3,100 on disappointment with sales of its pachinko machines. Hitachi added 1.3 percent to ¥699, while Matsushita Electric Industrial gained 2.9 percent to ¥2,635 and Sony was 3.7 percent higher to ¥4,760 on an upgrade from “equal weight” to “overweight” from Morgan Stanley.
