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Japan Hot Stocks-Nippon Steel, Keihin, Hyakujushi

TOKYO, Aug 19 (Reuters) - The following stocks are on the move on Monday.

**NIPPON STEEL CHEMICAL JUMPS ON REPORT TO BEAT H1 FORECAST**

Chemical maker Nippon Steel Chemical Co Ltd up 2.45 percent or 4 yen at 167, outperforming a 1.88 percent decline in the chemicals sector index following a report the firm will eclipse its operating profit forecast for the first half.

Business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun said at the weekend that the company expects a 28 percent rise in group operating profit in the six months to September to about five billion yen, beating its original forecast for 4.5 billion profit.

Brisk sales of copper-clad laminates for mobile phones and an upturn in styrene monomer prices are behind the rosier outlook, the Nihon Keizai said. 0530 GMT

**KEIHIN AFTER DEUTSCHE RAISES RATING TO BUY**

Keihin Corp, a car parts maker affiliated with Honda Motor Co Ltd , up 4.6 percent or 53 yen at 1,204, outperforming a two percent drop in the TOPIX index off all first section issues after Deutsche Securities raised its rating on the stock.

In a note to clients, Deutsche analyst Kunihiro Matsumoto said the stock was undervalued and cited better-than-expected sales to Honda. He also cited Honda's plans to expand overseas production as a boon for Keihin's earnings outlook.

Matsumoto lifted his rating on Keihin to "buy" from "market perform", and raised his target price to 1,500 yen from 1,450. 0510 GMT

**HYAKUJUSHI DOWN ON FORECAST CUT, NIPPON MEAT STOCK HURTS**

Hyakujushi Bank Ltd down 3.19 percent or 18 yen at 546 after the regional lender on Friday cut its earnings forecast for the first half and full year due to heavier credit costs and shareholding losses centred on Nippon Meat Packers Inc .

The bank said it now expects a group net loss of 23.40 billion yen ($199 million) in the year to March 2003 due to an increase in sour loans and a charge of 10 billion yen on its shareholdings.

It had previously forecast a profit of 4.4 billion yen for the full year.

About half of the latent losses are attributed to a plunge in the shares of meat processor Nippon Meat, whose stock has lost about 35 percent of its value in two weeks after it acknowledged involvement in a beef mislabelling scam. 0500 GMT **KYOSAN, KINKI SHARYO UP ON TAIWAN BULLET TRAIN HOPES**

Kyosan Electric Manufacturing Co Ltd up 2.2 percent or 6 yen at 279, gaining for a third straight session on hopes for demand related to Taiwan's $13.6 billion "bullet" railway line that is due for completion by 2005, a trader said.

Heavy machinery maker Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd said last month that Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp awarded it and six Japanese firms, along with a Taiwan partner, a contract for the country's first high-speed railway.

In May, Mitsubishi Heavy announced a tie-up with Kyosan Electric and Kinki Sharyo Co in the railroad signal business to tap growing demand in southeast Asia.

Kinki Sharyo was up 12.09 percent or 26 yen at 241, the biggest percentage gainer on the main board. 0440 GMT **NTT DOCOMO DOWN FOR SIXTH DAY AFTER PRICE-CUT REPORT**

NTT DoCoMo Inc down 3.79 percent at 254,000 yen after business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun said Japan's top wireless carrier will offer a discount to subscribers who pay more than 30,000 yen a month for its "i-mode" Internet mobile service.

Charges above 30,000 yen will be reduced by 33 percent, which the paper said would cost DoCoMo five billion yen ($42.54 million) in sales for the business year to March 2003, a fraction of the firm's projected overall revenue total of 5.37 trillion yen.

"The reported discount for high-paying customers is small and will not have a big effect on DoCoMo's earnings," said Motoharu Sone, senior analyst at UFJ Tsubasa Research Institute. "But this could lead to discounts in other services and I think that's what investors are afraid of." 0405 GMT

**TOKYO SHEARING EXTENDS GAINS, AT YEAR-HIGH

Tokyo Shearing Co Ltd up 8.33 percent at 182 yen, extending the year-high it hit on Friday. Traders said shares in the steel sheet and plate shearer affiliated to NKK Corp were being pushed up by investors looking for low-priced liquid issues in the absence of other buying incentives. 0210 GMT

**NIPPON SUISAN AT YEAR-HIGH ON NOMURA UPGRADE**

Nippon Suisan Kaisha Ltd up three percent at 206 yen after hitting a year-high of 208 yen. Shares in Japan's second-largest seafood company rose after Nomura Securities raised its rating on Nippon Suisan to "2" from "3". Nomura now expects the stock to outperform the TOPIX index by five to 15 percentage points over the next six months. 0155 GMT

**TOYOTA DOWN, CROSS-HELD SHARE UNWINDING EYED**

Toyota Motor Corp down 2.75 percent or 80 yen at 2,825, falling along with other auto stocks and the broader market, although concerns about the unwinding of cross-held shares are expected to weigh on Toyota's stocks in the near term.

"The yen is not really moving, so it appears some cross-share unwinding may be taking place," said Teruhisa Hirotama, head of trading at Ichiyoshi Securities, adding that big sell orders on Toyota were placed through Credit Suisse First Boston.

Toyota's stock is held heavily by banks, which are keen to offload cross-held shareholdings before the end of the first half in September. This type of selling is set to pick up steam this week as investors return to the office after the summer break. 0135 GMT

**SOFTBANK DOWN AFTER NASDAQ PULLOUT**

Softbank Corp down 1.84 percent at 1,227 yen, after the board of money-losing Nasdaq Japan said on Friday the venture, 43 percent owned by Softbank, would cease operations and terminate a contract with the Osaka Securities Exchange.

Japanese Internet investor Softbank said on Friday it expected the impact on its earnings from the winding up of the venture to be limited to its investment of 1.2 billion yen ($10.21 million), but had not decided whether to write off the money after the U.S. Nasdaq decided to pull out of Japan.

Analysts have voiced concerns about Softbank's stake in Nasdaq Japan, which has been bleeding red ink due to the global downturn in equities markets and its poor performance in soliciting new start-up firms to list their shares. 0132 GMT

**NEC , GSI CREOS UP ON NANOTUBE HOPES**

NEC Corp up 1.07 percent or seven yen at 659, outperforming a broader market fall after the Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily said on Monday that NEC would begin mass-production of carbon nanotubes as early as 2004.

A trader said the report brought attention to other nanotube-related issues including GSI Creos Corp, a specialist trader of textiles, which shot up 3.48 percent to 208 yen. 0045 GMT **NIPPON MEAT JUMPS ON REPORTS CHAIRMAN TO QUIT** Nippon Meat Packers Inc up 7.51 percent or 65 yen at 930, bought after local media said on Monday the meat processor's chairman, Yoshinori Ohkoso, will likely resign to help restore consumer confidence after a mislabelling scandal, a trader said.

The Mainichi Shimbun newspaper said the 87-year-old Ohkoso and Nippon Meat were finalising the details of his resignation, which they planned to announce on Tuesday.

Nippon Meat's stock was the most active issue by volume on the main board. 0035 GMT

**FAITH BID-ONLY ON TSE LISTING PLANS** Faith Inc, a provider of licenses and services for distribution of music through cellular phones, bid-only with no sellers at 533,000 yen, seven percent above Friday's close.

On Friday, the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) approved the listing of Faith on Japan's largest bourse on September 10. The move can be expected to lure a wider range of investors.

Some institutional investors, for example, are allowed only to invest in companies listed on the TSE's first section. 0023 GMT ($1=117.55 yen)