Tokyo stocks stage rebound on bargain-buying

Tokyo shares jumped 3.88 percent Wednesday on bargain hunting following a huge two-day selloff, as Japan scrambled to avoid a nuclear catastrophe after being hit by its biggest earthquake and a tsunami.



The Nikkei added 333.77 points to 8,938.92, off intra-day highs.



For the third straight day the Bank of Japan pumped emergency funds into the financial system. It offered 3.5 trillion yen ($43.3 bln) for money markets, after putting up eight trillion in same day funds Tuesday and a record 15 trillion on Monday to soothe sentiment and ensure firms can access cash.



It also said it will buy two trillion yen in government bonds Friday.

A pedestrian gazes at a share prices board in Tokyo.Tokyo shares jumped 3.88 percent Wednesday on bargain hunting following a huge two-day selloff, as Japan scrambled to avoid a nuclear catastrophe after being hit by its biggest earthquake and a tsunami. (AFP/Yoshikazu Tsuno)

“There appears to be some buying back by hedge funds following yesterday’s panic-selling,” Cosmo Securities equity strategist Toshikazu Horiuchi told Dow Jones Newswires.



“But unless the nuclear power plant issues are resolved, the reconstruction efforts will not be able to start and only then can we gauge the impact (of the earthquake) on earnings,” he adds.



The Fukushima plant northeast of Toyko has suffered a series of blasts and fires since Saturday after it was rocked by the record 9.0 magnitude quake on Friday, which also caused a 10-metre tsunami that is thought to have killed 10,00 people.



Japanese shares dived 10.55 percent Tuesday on a wave of panic-selling after Prime Minister Naoto Kan warned that radiation leaked from the quake-hit plant had reached levels that posed a threat to health.



It was the biggest one-day fall since the Lehman crisis in 2008 at the beginning of the global financial crisis, compounding Monday’s 6.18 percent tumble.



But stocks soared Wednesday despite a fresh fire and fears that containment pools holding spent fuel rods at reactor four had started to heat up.



If the water in the deep pools evaporates, it would expose the fuel rods, destroying them and releasing radioactive material into the atmosphere.



Exporters were higher after being dumped on output concerns.



With rolling power cuts planned for Japan, companies from big producers to suppliers of key components have shut plants. World markets tumbled Tuesday on fears for the global supply chain.



On Wednesday Toyota Motor was up 6.85 percent at 3,275 yen and Sony gained 9.25 percent to 2,508. Tokyo Electric Power, or TEPCO, the operator of the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plants, remained ask-only after plunging almost 25 percent on each of the past two days.



Tohoku Electric Power was up 6.32 percent at 1,261 and Dai-ichi Life Insurance was up 5.52 percent at 126,000.



The yen edged up to 80.81 against the dollar from 80.78 in New York late Tuesday.

Tags: vietnam enterprices

Posted by VBN on Mar 16 2011. Filed under Enterprises. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry