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Japan shares down on strong yen, ignore rate cut
AP - Friday, December 19
TOKYO - Japanese shares fell Friday as investors dumped exporters on a strong yen, while the market shrugged off the Bank of Japan's much expected rate cut, which followed a similar move by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average declined 78.71 points, or 0.9 percent, to 8,588.52. The broader Topix index lost 0.5 percent to 834.43.
"A strong yen continued to weigh down on the market, dragging down exporters," said Yutaka Miura, a senior strategist at Shinko Securities Co. Ltd.
The yen traded at 89.03 to the dollar in Tokyo Friday afternoon, compared with 89.48 in New York late Thursday. Earlier in the week the yen hit 87.11 to the greenback, the weakest level for the dollar since July 1995.
A strong yen hurts Japanese exporters by cutting their dollar income from abroad. Japan's top manufacturers like Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Sony Corp. have all blamed the strong yen and a global downturn for their poor earning projections.
Miura said the market was little surprised by the Bank of Japan's move to cut its key interest rate to 0.1 percent from the current 0.3 percent following a two-day policy board meeting.
"The rate cut was well expected in the market, said Muira. "Rather, investors were focusing on how the U.S. and European markets will do today."
Apart from the rate cut, the Japanese central bank also introduced new steps to pump more money into the banking system to thaw a credit crunch. It plans to start buying commercial paper _ the short-term debt firms use to pay everyday expenses _ in an effort to funnel cash directly to companies.
The Japanese rate cut was widely expected after the U.S. Federal Reserve on Tuesday slashed its benchmark rate to a range of zero to 0.25 percent _ the lowest ever.
Toyota fell 2 percent to 2,900 yen, and its rival Honda declined 1 percent to 1,807 yen. Nissan Motor Co. shed 2.6 percent to 296 yen.
Sony rose 0.3 percent to 1,821 yen, and Panasonic Corp. jumped 2.9 percent to 1,051 yen. Panasonic said after the market close Friday that it will start a public tender offer bid to acquire Sanyo Electric Co. at 131 yen a share.
Sanyo, dropped 3.5 percent to 136 yen.
Japan's financial giant, Mizuho Financial Group Inc., added 1.2 percent to 259,900 yen. Japan's top brokerage, Nomura Holdings Inc., jumped 5.1 percent to 699 yen.
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