In the mid-term, an end to the policy is not in itself bad news, as it will bring normalization to monetary policy and signal an end to prolonged deflation.
It's good that they moved quickly to close the deal ... The market is closely watching what strategies Seven & I will come up with after making the U.S. unit wholly owned.
Yet, whether doing this will change investors' appetite will depend on what kind of steps will actually be taken by the group, and whether and how the earnings will be raised.
But strong buying interest appeared to beat profit-taking in the end.
The prospects for the steel industry are quite positive, supported by strong demand.
Sony and Sanyo are coming up with more aggressive restructuring. But investors are now buying companies that can post strong growth without restructuring,
Some investors focused on domestic demand-led sectors, while high-tech firms appeared to be weaker due to lingering worries over the firmer yen.
In the current market, high techs are not exactly the target of investors' buying interest. Under these circumstances, it wouldn't help at all to post disappointing earnings.
Higher oil prices and a strengthening yen accelerated selling.
The share prices of JFE and Nippon Steel fell after they had risen until Monday. They will not drop so much with the positive forecasts.
