Japan rescue helicopter crash kills 5: report

July 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Five people died when a rescue helicopter sent to help a party of climbers crashed in mountains near Tokyo Sunday, local media reported.

Two people survived the crash in Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, police were quoted as saying.

The helicopter, belonging to the Saitama prefectural government, went down after lowering rescuers to help a 55-year-old woman, Kyodo news agency reported.

A warning had been issued by the local meteorological observatory of heavy rain and lightning in the area, it said.

(Reporting by Michael Watson; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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Japan rescue helicopter crash kills 5 – media

July 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 25 (Reuters) – Five people died when a rescue helicopter sent to help a party of climbers crashed in mountains near Tokyo on Sunday, local media reported.

Two people survived the crash in Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, police were quoted as saying.

The helicopter, belonging to the Saitama prefectural government, went down after lowering rescuers to help a 55-year-old woman, Kyodo news agency reported.

A warning had been issued by the local meteorological observatory of heavy rain and lightning in the area, it said. (Reporting by Michael Watson; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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Japan govt official: yen levels too high

July 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(For more stories on the Japanese economy, click [ID:nECONJP])

TOKYO July 23 (Reuters) – The yen’s current levels seem too high, a senior Japanese government official said on Friday.

“We will watch how the currency levels affect a pickup in business activity,” Keisuke Tsumura, a parliamentary secretary at the Cabinet Office, told reporters. (Reporting by Rie Ishiguro)

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Japan June copper cable shipments rise 5 pct yr/yr

July 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 23 (Reuters) – Japanese copper wire and cable shipments rose 5 percent from a year earlier to an estimated 56,100 tonnes in June, an industry body said on Friday.

That was up from 49,708 tonnes in May, data from the Japanese Electric Wire and Cable Makers’ Association showed. (Reporting by Risa Maeda)

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Drugmaker Actavis agrees debt refinancing deal

July 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 22 (Reuters) – Icelandic generic drugmaker Actavis has agreed a debt refinancing deal with its lenders to slash its multi-billion-euro debt load, the company said.

The group did not give details in a brief statement but said the agreement positioned it with the flexibility to continue to grow, especially in southern Europe, Japan, the Middle East and northern Africa, and increase market share in current markets.

Sources familiar with the matter had told Reuters earlier this month that key lender Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) was close to a deal with Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson, the Icelandic tycoon who owns Actavis, to refinance the company. [ID:nLDE6661A3]

Deutsche financed Bjorgolfsson’s 4.7 billion euro ($6 billion) leveraged buyout (LBO) of Actavis, one of the world’s biggest makers of copycat drugs, in 2007. ($1=.7836 Euro) (Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Hans Peters)

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Nikkei posts fifth day of losses; eyes on yen

July 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 22 (Reuters) – Japan’s Nikkei slipped 0.6 percent to its fifth straight day of losses and a three-week closing low on Thursday, hurt by a stronger yen after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke expressed concern about the U.S. economy.

Investors awaiting the results of European bank “stress tests” later this week were closing positions, while the yen’s rally hit shares of exporters.

The benchmark Nikkei .N225 shed 57.95 points to 9,220.88, its lowest close since July 2, while the broader Topix lost 0.5 percent to 825.48.

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UPDATE 1-Fast Retailing, Toray in $4.6 bln supply deal

July 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

TOKYO, July 20 (Reuters) – Japan’s Fast Retailing (9983.T), operator of the Uniqlo casual clothing chain, said its procurement from textile maker Toray Industries (3402.T) would reach 400 billion yen ($4.6 billion) in the five years to 2015.

That will mark a 70 percent increase from the 240 billion yen in business during the previous five years of their partnership, which has helped Fast Retailing develop hit products and fuelled its global expansion.

Toray supplies Fast Retailing with textiles and has been working with the apparel giant on new fabrics, including the material used in its popular heat-trapping clothing.

Fast Retailing President Tadashi Yanai told a joint news conference he wants to strengthen their partnership as it accelerates a push into overseas markets, where it still gets less than 10 percent of its sales.

“I personally think in some countries we would like to do everything together from production to sales,” Yanai said. (Reporting by Taiga Uranaka; Editing by Michael Watson)

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Honda to launch plug-in hybrid,electric car in 2012

July 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Japan, July 20 (Reuters) – Honda Motor Co (7267.T), Japan’s No. 2 automaker, said on Tuesday it would launch a plug-in hybrid car and a battery electric model in the United States and Japan in 2012. (Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim)

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Japan June crude steel output rises 35.9 pct yr/yr

July 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 20 (Reuters) – Japan’s crude steel output rose 35.9 percent in June from a year earlier to 9.35 million tonnes, the Japan Iron and Steel Federation said.

Output, which is not seasonally-adjusted, declined 3.8 percent from May. (Reporting by Yuko Inoue)

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Fast Retailing eyes expanded business with Toray

July 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 20 (Reuters) – Japan’s Fast Retailing (9983.T), operator of the Uniqlo budget clothing chain, said on Tuesday it expects business with textile maker Toray Industries (3402.T) to total 400 billion yen ($4.6 billion) in the five years to 2015.

The two companies said in a statement did they did business worth 240 billion yen in the five years through 2009.

Toray currently supplies textiles to Uniqlo, including the material for hit products such as heat-trapping garments. (Reporting by Taiga Uranaka)

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Sanyo says to sell chip unit to ON Semi for 33 bln yen

July 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 15 (Reuters) – Japan’s Sanyo Electric (6764.T) said on Thursday it would sell its loss-making chip unit to ON Semiconductor (ONNN.O) for 33 billion yen ($373 million) as it focuses on strengths such as environmentally friendly technology.

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Nikkei slips from 3-wk highs on investor economy worry

July 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 15 (Reuters) – Japan’s Nikkei average fell 1.1 percent on Thursday after the Federal Reserve’s caution on the U.S. economic recovery and souring near-term technicals prompted investors to take profits after a jump this month to three-week highs.

The benchmark Nikkei shed 109.71 points to 9,685.53, after falling as low as 9,667.00 at one stage. On Wednesday, the index rose nearly 3 percent to hit its highest close since late June.

The broader Topix lost 1.6 percent to 856.60 on Thursday. (Reporting by Aiko Hayashi)

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Mitsubishi Elec says to boost power chip output

July 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 15 (Reuters) – Japan’s Mitsubishi Electric (6503.T) said on Thursday that it would invest 10 billion yen ($113 million) to boost output of its power semiconductors.

Demand for power semiconductors, which are used in a wide variety of products including hybrid vehicles and air conditioners to help reduce energy consumption, is expanding briskly.

Japan’s Yaskawa Electric (6506.T), which procures power semiconductors for its inverters and servo motors from Mitsubishi Electric, has said production cannot keep pace with orders due to a supply shortage of key devices including power semiconductors.

Mitsubishi Electric will more than double output of its 8 inch silicon wafers as well as beefing up assembly lines for power semiconductors by next April.

The firm has said it plans to double its power semiconductor sales to 150 billion yen by the year ending March 2016 from the last year’s 74 billion yen. (Reporting by Nobuhiro Kubo; Editing by Charlotte Cooper)

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NTT to buy S.Africa Dimension Data for $3.4 bln-Nikkei

July 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 15 (Reuters) – Japan’s Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp (9432.T) is in the final stages of buying South African IT firm Dimension Data (DDTJ.J) (DDT.L) for 300 billion yen ($3.4 billion), the Nikkei business daily reported on Thursday. (Reporting by Nobuhiro Kubo)

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Honda: affiliated supplier’s China plant on strike

July 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Honda Motor Co (7267.T) said workers at a Chinese factory owned by unlisted affiliate Atsumitec Co have been on strike since July 12, with no resolution reached as of Thursday.

Japan’s No.2 automaker, which has been plagued by supplier strikes since late May, said its four car plants in China were operating as usual with inventory. A spokeswoman in Tokyo said Atsumitec’s factory, in Foshan, Guangdong province, supplies shift levers to Honda’s local plants.

(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim)

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Honda: affiliated supplier’s China plant on strike

July 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 15 (Reuters) – Honda Motor Co (7267.T) said workers at a Chinese factory owned by unlisted affiliate Atsumitec Co have been on strike since July 12, with no resolution reached as of Thursday.

Japan’s No.2 automaker, which has been plagued by supplier strikes since late May, said its four car plants in China were operating as usual with inventory. A spokeswoman in Tokyo said Atsumitec’s factory, in Foshan, Guangdong province, supplies shift levers to Honda’s local plants. (Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim)

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Nufarm slashes FY profit forecast, ups debt estimate

July 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 14 (Reuters) – Nufarm (NUF.AX), an Australian farm chemicals group one-fifth owned by Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical (4005.T), axed its full year profit forecast on Wednesday, blaming bad weather in North America and Europe hitting demand.

Nufarm also raised its forecast for net debt for the year to July 31, 2010.

It is now expecting a full-year profit around A$55 million to A$65 million, down from an earlier forecast between A$80 million and A$100 million.

The group’s shares, down 50 percent so far this year, were on a trading halt pending the performance update.

The new forecast was as much as 43 percent below analysts’ estimates around A$95.7 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, even following a slew of broker downgrades over the past three weeks. (Reporting by Sonali Paul; editing by Balazs Koranyi)

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Voter support drops for battered Japan govt -Kyodo

July 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 13 (Reuters) – Voter support for Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s government, reeling from a thrashing at the polls, has fallen to 36.3 percent, a Kyodo news agency survey showed on Tuesday, posing another headache for Kan as he faces a potential leadership challenge from inside his own party.

Kan’s ruling coalition lost its majority in a weekend upper house election, putting his policies to deal with massive debt and generate growth at risk and prompting warnings by credit ratings agencies S&P and Fitch on Japan’s sovereign ratings. [ID:nTOE66C03L]

Kan’s ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) still controls the more powerful lower house. But it needs help from other parties to push bills through the upper chamber as they struggle to end decades of stagnation in the world’s No.2 economy. (Reporting by Linda Sieg)

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Nikkei gives up gains as China worry weighs

July 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 13 (Reuters) – Japan’s Nikkei edged lower on Tuesday, weighed down as Shanghai shares fell after China said it had no plans to relax tougher property measures anytime soon, though falls were checked by hopes for U.S. earnings later in the day.

China’s key stock index .SSEC fell 1.6 percent after the government said it would continue to rein in speculation in the country’s red-hot property sector, weighing on shares throughout Asia. [ID:nTST000264]

The benchmark Nikkei .N225 shed 0.1 percent or 10.88 points to 9,537.23 after earlier rising nearly 1 percent. The broader Topix fell 0.4 percent to 854.39.

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Japan Noda: need to carefully prepare next FY budget

July 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 12 (Reuters) – Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said on Monday the government would have to carefully prepare the budget for next fiscal year, after the ruling Democratic Party and its coalition partner were denied a majority in an upper house election the previous day.

Noda, speaking to reporters, also said the election would lead to the beginning of multiparty debate on reforming the tax code, including the sales tax.

Voters dealt the Democrats a stinging rebuke in the upper house election on Sunday, depriving it and its tiny ally of a majority less than a year after the Democrats swept to power with promises of change. (Reporting by Stanley White)

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