Japan's Nikkei 225 Drops on Subprime Concerns; Topix Climbs on Earnings

(Bloomberg) -- Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average
dropped after U.S. residential investment slumped, raising
concern the world's largest economy will slow.

Canon Inc. slid 2.6 percent, leading exporters lower after
the yen advanced to the highest against the dollar in more than
three months, reducing the value of their overseas sales.


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Japan's Nikkei 225 Average, Topix Falls; Exporters Drop on U.S. Earnings

(Bloomberg) -- Japanese shares dropped, paced by
companies that rely on the U.S. market, after Caterpillar Inc.
said its profit dropped on lower North American sales. Exporters
such as Honda Motor Co. and Komatsu Ltd. declined.

Investors also refrained from betting heavily on stocks
before the upper house election, which will be held on July 29.
The Nikkei newspaper reported yesterday Japan's ruling coalition
may lose its majority in the election, citing its own poll.


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Yen Drops on Bets Japan's Ruling Coalition to Lose Upper House Elections

(Bloomberg) -- The yen dropped to a record low
against the euro after the Nikkei newspaper reported yesterday
Japan's coalition may lose its majority in upper house elections
on July 29, citing a poll it conducted.

The yen was at 168.12 per euro at 7:17 a.m. in Tokyo and
earlier reached 168.99, the lowest ever. It was at 167.61 per
euro late in New York July 20. Japan's currency traded at 121.49
per dollar from 121.27 last week.


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Japan state pension to cut corp bond buying -Nikkei

(Reuters) - The Nikkei said the GPIF, which manages about 82 trillion
yen of bonds and stocks, is likely to keep
corporate bond holdings at about 3 trillion to 4 trillion yen.




The GPIF intends to replace maturing corporate debt, which
means purchases would total about 400 billion yen a year -- less
than half the current amount, the report said this weekend.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Japan's Nikkei 225 Rises to Seven-Year High After Machinery Orders Jump

(Bloomberg) -- Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose
to a seven-year high after a government report showed machinery
orders climbed more than forecast in May. Komatsu Ltd. gained.

Energy-related shares including Nippon Mining Holdings Inc.
and Marubeni Corp. also jumped after crude oil surged to the
highest in 10 months last week and metals such as copper and gold
rose.


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Toshiba Shares Rise After Talks on Selling Part of Its Westinghouse Stake

(Bloomberg) -- Shares of Toshiba Corp., Japan's
biggest maker of nuclear reactors by capacity, rose after the
company said it is in talks to sell part of its stake in
Westinghouse Electric Co. to a Kazakhstan state-run company.

The stock climbed 3.1 percent to 1,086 yen as of 9:08 a.m.
on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, outperforming the 0.6 percent
advance in the benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average. Keisuke Ohmori,
a spokesman for Tokyo-based Toshiba, said on July 7 the company
is in talks with Kazatomprom, a uranium importer and exporter,
about selling part of its Westinghouse stake.


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Japanese Shares Climb, Led by Sony, Sending Nikkei 225 to Seven-Year High

(Bloomberg) -- Japanese shares rose for a sixth day,
sending the Nikkei 225 Stock Average to it highest in seven
years. Sony Corp. led gains on speculation the yen's slump
against the dollar and euro boosted profits in the three months
ended June.

Retailers climbed, led by Seven & I Holdings Co., after
companies including Aeon Mall Co. reported higher income in the
first quarter.


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JGBs slip on fall in euro zone bonds, Nikkei rise

(Reuters) - "JGBs opened a bit lower since Bunds fell and are extending
their losses since the Nikkei is rising," said a senior trader
for a major Japanese bank.




September 10-year JGB futures fell 0.15 point to 131.75
as of 0054 GMT, pulling away from a three-week high of
132.23 hit on Monday.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News