Asian Shares End Higher; Weaker Yen Boosts Japan Exports - Wall Street Journal

SEPTEMBER 7, 2011, 7:02 A.M. ET

(Updates to include India closing markets)

By Sarah Turner and Nick Godt

Asian markets rallied Wednesday, with investors jumping into stocks tied to global economic growth, and shares of Japanese exporters benefiting from a Swiss-made drop in the yen.

"I think everyone is cautiously optimistic," said Lucinda Chan, a division director at Macquarie Private Wealth. "I think there's a little bit of excitement after the recent sell-off to see if there's support in this market."

On the heels of three straight sessions of losses, South Korea's Kospi ...

(Updates to include India closing markets)

By Sarah Turner and Nick Godt

Asian markets rallied Wednesday, with investors jumping into stocks tied to global economic growth, and shares of Japanese exporters benefiting from a Swiss-made drop in the yen.

"I think everyone is cautiously optimistic," said Lucinda Chan, a division director at Macquarie Private Wealth. "I think there's a little bit of excitement after the recent sell-off to see if there's support in this market."

On the heels of three straight sessions of losses, South Korea's Kospi ...

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Japan study boosts nuclear power's cost estimates - Reuters

* Japan govt working on post-Fukushima energy policy

* Govt data in 2004 shows atomic power costs at 5-6 yen/kwh

* Govt prepares new cost assessment for nuclear power

By Risa Maeda

TOKYO, Sept 1 (Reuters) - The cost of generating nuclear power in Japan is one-third higher than Tokyo's last cost assessment in 2004 and 50 percent higher if compensation costs for the recent nuclear crisis are included, but still cheaper than fossil fuels, a study showed this week.

The study by the country's top energy research firm could provide fodder for both sides of Japan's nuclear power debate, which is expected to heat up amid public wariness over nuclear safety despite the prospect of protracted power shortages.

Lawmakers and officials are working to come up with a new energy policy after the Fukushima radiation crisis made it difficult, if not impossible, to build more reactors in the world's third-biggest nuclear generator.

Prior to the crisis, as part of its effort to fight climate change, Japan planned to boost nuclear capacity to meet over half of electricity demand by 2030 by building 13 more reactors.

Underlining the pre-disaster reliance on nuclear, a government panel's assessment of the cost of hydro, fossil fuel and nuclear power generation in 2004 concluded atomic power at 5 to 6 yen per kwh would be the cheapest energy option most of the time.

Japan had used the seven-year old data until the March 11 disaster and is now preparing to make a new assessment to gauge how to retreat from nuclear power in the long run while ensuring safety of the existing reactors.

The Institute of Energy Economics for Japan study showed nuclear power generation cost 7.2 yen (9.4 cents) per kilowatt hour (kwh) on average in the past five years. But the price would rise further if future payments for nuclear waste storage and compensation for a radiation accident are included.

If compensation for the loss and damages from a nuclear accident of 10 trillion yen ($131 billion) or more is included, the cost of nuclear power would climb about 1.3 yen per kwh, the researchers said.

Power generation from fossil fuels during the same period cost 10.2 yen on average and that from renewable energy sources, mainly geothermal power, cost 8.9 yen, according to the study based on financial reports in the five years to March 2011 by Japan's 12 major utilities.

The study also showed the cost of nuclear power has been quite stable over the five years, but the cost of power from burning fossil fuels has varied from 9 to 12 yen, depending on import costs.

The study included the cost of capital procured by utilities to manage the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle and to abolish reactors in the future, but did not include spending by utilities to support communities hosting nuclear power plants or spending for research and development.

The cost for each renewable energy type is unavailable as sources other than geothermal account for only a fraction of the total generation capacity of the 12 utilities surveyed.

Currently, home owners are the main solar power generators in Japan. Wind farms here are mostly run by specialised developers and municipal governments. ($1 = 76.470 Japanese Yen) (Reporting by Risa Maeda; Editing by Edmund Klamann and Edwina Gibbs)

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Japan Stocks Rise First Day in Five as U.S. Economic Data Boosts Exporters - Bloomberg

Canon stocks rise. Photographer: Toshiyuki Aizawa/Bloomberg

Aug. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Robert Howe, chief executive officer of hedge fund manager Geomatrix (HK) Ltd., talks about his investment strategy for Asian stocks. Howe also discusses Federal Reserve monetary policy and Europe's sovereign debt crisis. He speaks with Rishaad Salamat, Susan Li and Phillip Yin on Bloomberg Television's "Asia Edge." (Source: Bloomberg)

Aug. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Erwin Sanft, head of China and Hong Kong research at BNP Paribas SA, talks about global stocks and economies. Sanft, who also discusses Federal Reserve monetary policy and China's currency policy, speaks in Hong Kong with Rishaad Salamat on Bloomberg Television's "On the Move Asia." (Source: Bloomberg)

Japanese stocks rose for the first time in five days as exporters climbed on speculation the U.S. Federal Reserve will announce additional measures to shore up the recovery in the world’s biggest economy.

Canon Inc. (7751), a camera maker that gets about a quarter of its sales in the Americas, gained 3 percent. Nintendo Co., a gamemaker that has lost 45 percent this year, jumped on speculation the shares have been oversold. Inpex Corp., Japan’s No. 1 energy explorer, gained 2.9 percent after oil prices rose.

The Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average rose 1.2 percent to 8,733.01 at the 3 p.m. close of trading in Tokyo. The gauge snapped its longest losing streak since March amid optimism Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke will announce a plan to stimulate the economy when he speaks on Aug. 26 at a meeting of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. At last year’s meeting, Bernanke sparked a rally in equities by signaling the Fed would buy more bonds -- a strategy known as QE2 -- to help prop up asset prices.

Bernanke “may signal some kind of measure that’s positive for stocks, even if he doesn’t go as far as QE3,” said Masatsugu Okeya, a fund manager at Chiba-Gin Asset Management Co. “The market has already priced in most of the negative news during the recent decline.”

The Topix index rose 1 percent to 750.39 after yesterday falling to the lowest level since March 2009. The gauge has lost about 12 percent this month amid concern U.S. growth is sputtering and Europe’s debt crisis will damage the banking system, damping demand in two of Japan’s biggest export markets. The decline has cut the price of shares on the index to 0.89 times book value, the lowest since March 2009.

“Stocks are likely to be bought as valuations and technical patterns indicate they’ve been oversold,” said Ryuta Otsuka, a strategist at Toyo Securities Co. in Tokyo. “Risk aversion came to a halt in the U.S. and European markets yesterday.”

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 1.2 percent today. The index closed little changed yesterday in New York, paring gains in the last 15 minutes of trading as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. plunged on a report that Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein hired a defense attorney.

Japanese exporters to the U.S. advanced. Canon, the world’s biggest camera-maker, rose 3 percent to 3,600 yen. Toyota Motor Corp. (7203), which counts North America as its biggest market, climbed 2.3 percent to 2,763 yen. The automaker also rose after saying it would collaborate with Ford Motor Co. to develop a hybrid system for pickup trucks.

Nintendo gained 8.4 percent to 13,100 yen. The world’s biggest gamemaker rebounded after the share’s 50-day moving average fell to the lowest level since January 2006.

“Nintendo’s bounce is representative of the technical rebound in the market as a whole,” said Kenichi Hirano, general manager and strategist at Tachibana Securities Co. in Tokyo. “There’s a sense that investors are done unloading shares after one piece of bad news after another.”

Utilities rose after Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, a candidate to replace Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan, said the country may not be able to do without nuclear power. Kansai Electric Power, the country’s second-largest utility, gained 2.8 percent to 1,409 yen. Chubu Electric Power Co., the third biggest, advanced 1.9 percent to 1,487 yen.

Although Japan should reduce its dependence on nuclear power, the country needs to “‘carefully examine’’ whether it’s possible to meet its energy needs without it, Noda said today in Tokyo. Kan, who said he will step down as early as Aug. 26 if key legislation is passed, has said atomic power should be phased out following the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

Japan’s power companies increased spending on fuels by 1 trillion yen ($13 billion) in the three months ended June 30, as they increased thermal generation to offset closures of nuclear plants, national broadcaster NHK reported this month.

Energy companies advanced after crude prices gained for a second day as investors bet on increased demand in the U.S., the world’s biggest consumer of the fuel. Inpex Corp (1605) gained 2.9 to 469,500 yen. Smaller Japan Drilling Co. rose 2.1 percent to 2,602 yen.

To contact the reporters on this story: Yoshiaki Nohara in Tokyo at ynohara1@bloomberg.net; Satoshi Kawano in Tokyo at skawano1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Gentle at ngentle2@bloomberg.net.

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