Japan Stocks Fall to 3-Month Low on Nissan Earnings, Car Sales

By Patrick Rial and Toshiro Hasegawa

Aug. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Japan stocks dropped, sending the benchmark Topix index to a more than three-month low, after profit fell at Nissan Motor Co. and Olympus Corp., and U.S. car sales declined to the lowest in more than a decade.

Nissan, Japan's third-largest automaker, sank to a five-year low after net income fell more than analysts expected. Smaller rival Mazda Motor Corp. plunged the most in more than six years after July U.S. sales dropped 13 percent. Olympus, an 89-year-old camera maker, tumbled, while Mitsui & Co., Japan's second-largest trading company, plunged after first-quarter profit declined.

``Corporate earnings aren't providing investors with many reasons to be cheerful, and we also can't say the worst has passed,'' said Yasuhiro Kato, a senior portfolio manager at Tokyo-based DIAM Co., which manages the equivalent of $108 billion. ``Investors are still unloading their cyclical stocks, such as auto and steel, while defensive shares are conversely getting a boost.''

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average slumped 161.41, or 1.2 percent, to 12,933.18 at the close of trading in Tokyo. The broader Topix index fell 24.68, or 1.9 percent, to 1,248.25, a level not seen since April 14. Almost five stocks fell for each that advanced on the Topix.

Nikkei futures expiring in September lost 0.6 percent to 12,950 in Osaka and fell 1 percent to 12,950 in Singapore.

To contact the reporters for this story: Patrick Rial in Tokyo at prial@bloomberg.net; Toshiro Hasegawa in Tokyo at thasegawa6@bloomberg.net.