N. Korea Threat Helps Japan's Exporter Stocks via Weaker Yen

The Tokyo Stock Exchange was closed yesterday for a public holiday but given all the coverage of the North Korea nuke test and resulting fall in Asian shares, it was expected the Nikkei 225 Stock Average would trade lower too. Basically, there was a lot of selling pressure but the N225 was pulled up by further weakness in the yen that prompted buying of major exporters.

The evidence: the exporter-heavy N225 gained 0.25% to close at 16,477.25, whereas the broader TOPIX only gained 0.04% to close at 1,634.83.

Today's biggest movers to the upside among Japan's exporters:

• Nintendo (NTDOY) -- 24,550 yen (+1.70%), traded as high as +2.3%

• Canon (CAJ) -- 6,530 yen (+0.93%), traded as high as +2.2%

• Advantest (ATE) -- 6,030 yen (+0.84%), traded as high as +2.0%

• Toyota (TM) -- 6,850 yen (+0.74%), traded as high as +1.2%

• Nissan (NSANY) -- 1,373 yen (+0.22%), traded as high as +1.6%

• Matsushita (MC) -- 2,500 yen (+0.20%), traded as high as +1.4%

An article by Japan's Technobahn news service mentioned that on average a one yen movement in the yen-dollar exchange rate equates to about a 10 billion yen ($85 million) profit for Japan's main exporters. A WSJ article reported Toyota gains about 35 billion yen ($300 million) for every one yen rise versus the dollar.

Related: Honda Provides Superior Asian Exposure (If You Can Stomach North Korean Risk) • Nikkei Quietly Rallying - Expect a Repeat of '05? • Tokyo Stock Index to Rebalance, Stocks to Watch • Significance of the Surprisingly Weak Yen

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Disclosure: I do not own shares of any companies mentioned in this article.