* Nikkei flat; Topix advances 0.7 pct
* Softbank slumps 16 pct, in talks to invest in Sprint
Nextel
* Fast Retailing sinks 10 pct after disappointing results
By Dominic Lau
TOKYO, Oct 12 (Reuters) – Japan’s Nikkei was flat on Friday,
with Softbank Corp dropping 16 percent after it said it
was in talks to invest in U.S. firm Sprint Nextel, but
exporters gained as news of the potentially huge deal weakened
the yen.
Trade was active, with Fast Retailing, also another
benchmark heavyweight, tumbling some 10 percent on disappointing
results to help keep the index near its lowest levels in more
than two months.
A source has said Softbank is looking at a controlling stake
in Sprint worth more than 1 trillion yen ($12.8 billion) and the
talks have also spurred speculation that the Japanese firm could
also make a run at other companies via Sprint, potentially
costing 2 trillion yen.
Softbank’s stock slid to a more than four-month low and was
on track to post its biggest one-day percentage drop since 2003
as investors expressed concern that such an expansion would be
too costly and have no synergy with its Japanese business.
“The valuation is attractive but everybody else says that’s
a big risk and I don’t see any synergy,” said Nicholas Smith,
chief Japan strategist at CLSA.
The stock was the most-traded on the main board by turnover.
Softbank’s rival, KDDI Corp advanced 2.4 percent and
was the fourth-most traded stock.
By the midday break, the Nikkei was flat at 8,546.96
after falling for a fourth straight session. It was down 3.6
percent for the week, which would be its biggest weekly fall
since May as well as a fourth straight week of losses.
The benchmark Nikkei has fallen 8 percent since hitting a
four-month high on Sept. 19 though it is up 1.1 percent this
year.
The news of a potentially huge deal helped weaken the yen to
78.41 against the dollar, down from Thursday’s high of 77.94.
That lifted exporters, which have been battered recently by
concerns that the upcoming quarterly earnings season would be
weak due to sluggish global growth.
“In some sense, (Softbank Chairman Masayoshi Son) has
actually weakened the yen. The market’s gone up, his stock’s
gone down,” a sales trader at a foreign bank said.
“It’s a huge deal. Often when the market turns, it often
comes from big M&A.;”
Toyota Motor Corp, Canon Inc and TDK Corp
were up between 1.9 and 3 percent.
The broader Topix advanced 0.7 percent to 719.04 in
active trade, with volume at 58 percent of its full daily
average for the past 90 days.
Fast Retailing, the operator of the casual clothing chain
Uniqlo, was the second-most traded issue after its full-year
operating profit ended August came in below market expectations,
while investors were also disappointed with its earnings
guidance for this business year.
Data from Japan’s Ministry of Finance showed foreign
investors turned net buyers of Japanese stocks last week after
two weeks of net selling.
