Tokyo equities mixed on stronger yen

Tokyo equities markets were mixed on Thursday as the yen strengthened against the US dollar and on anticipation of another decline in factory production this month. Production was down by 2 percent in January and analysts are saying that it will fall another 2.9 percent this month as production of ships and cars was down. Amid the worries, the Nikkei 225 was 0.75 percent lower to 13,925.51 and the Topix index fell 0.84 percent to 1,353.1 but the Mothers market of small and mid-caps added 2.62 percent to 708.34. Carmakers and the electronics sector were lower, but mobile phone operators gained and the consumer finance sector was up on the session.

Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region, markets were mixed on concerns that earnings will decline for companies there as the US dollar weakens and the yen sees gains. Gainers included the Hang Seng, which added 0.44 percent to 24,591.69. South Korea’s Kospi was up 0.89 percent to 1,736.17 while the Taiex gained 1.86 percent to 8,462.08 in Taiwan. The Sensex was down 0.01 percent to 17,824.48. The Straits Times Index was 0.66 percent lower to 3,074.15 while the Shanghai Composite fell 0.8 percent to 4,299.51. In Australia the Sydney Ordinares dropped 1.65 percent to 5,746.1 and the S&P/ASX200 was down 2.01 percent to 5,651.2.

Europe’s equities markets saw declines on disappointing results and earnings outlooks. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 1.83 percent to 1,333.42. In Madrid the IBEX was 1.35 percent lower to 13,272.1 while the Dax fell 1.93 percent to 6,862.52 in Frankfurt and the Paris CAC-40 dropped 2.08 percent to 4,865.23. There were only two winners on the CAC-40, in the drinks and banking sectors, while the only winner on the Dax was an industrial gases group. Among the biggest losers on the day were carmakers, the aerospace and airlines sectors, chipmakers, and insurers.

Markets were also lower in London, with the FTSE 100 down 1.82 percent to 5,965.7 and the FTSE 250 falling 1.83 percent to 10,230.8. Miners were mostly lower after a rejected bid in the sector, while insurers fell on broker downgrades within the sector. Banks were down, while the oil and retail sectors saw many more losers than gainers. A pubs operator and an electricity generator were the biggest winners on the 100 and the 250, respectively.

Wall Street was lower in mid-afternoon trade. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.01 percent to 12,566.14 while the Nasdaq Composite had fallen 0.93 percent to 2,331.86 and the S&P 500 dropped 0.97 percent to 1,366.57. Already down on new data from the Labor Department showing that new jobless claims were up by 19,000 last week, equities dropped even more after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said in Congressional testimony that while large banks should be able to weather the credit crisis and recover from losses, some smaller banks could fail due to the current troubles. There were declines among mortgage lenders and brokers, while the telecommunications sector saw losses on poor quarterly results.

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