Japan: Best and Worst Performing ADRs Last Week and YTD

Japanese ADRs trading on the NYSE/NASDAQ fared much better last week than in the week prior. However, Japanese stocks struggled in general due to a holiday-shortened trading week.

Nevertheless, it was off to the races Monday, following a four-day weekend -- the Nikkei 225 gained 1.6% to 17,669.83, its highest close since April 11.

On average, the 28 Japanese ADRs gained a combined 0.6% last week. For the year, they remain slightly in positive territory, up a combined average 1.1%.

Average weekly Japanese ADR returns over the past several weeks:

04/20 - 04/27: -1.8%
04/13 - 04/20: +1.5%
04/05 - 04/13: -2.1%
03/30 - 04/05: +1.3%
03/23 - 03/30: -1.6%
03/09 - 03/16: -1.9%
03/02 - 03/09: +0.6%
02/23 - 03/02: -3.8%

See the chart at the bottom for weekly and year-to-date returns.

The five best performing ADRs last week:

1. Makita (MKTAY) 6.5%
2. Mitsui & Co. (MITSY) 6.2%
3. Matsushita (MC) 3.8%
4. NIS Group (NIS) 2.9%
5. ORIX (IX) 2.3%

The five worst performing ADRs:

1. Kubota (KUB) -4.0%
2. Nidec (NJ) -3.5%
3. Advantest (ATE) -3.2%
4. TDK (TDK) -2.9%
5. Honda (HMC) -2.3%

Disclosure: The author owns shares of NIS Group and IIJ and also owns IIJ call options.

Notice the weakness in auto stocks, in which all three of Japan's big-3: Toyota (TM) -10%, Honda (HMC) -14.4% and Nissan (NSANY) -16.2%, are down double-digits for the year. After the long holiday however, there were buyers given the stock market's strength in the U.S. and the continued weakness in the yen. Honda (JP: 7267) gained 1.73% to ¥4,110 ($34.28 ADR equiv. at ¥119.9/$1; $33.83 Fri. close), Nissan (JP: 7201) +1.41% to ¥1,222 ($20.38; $20.33 Fri. close) and Toyota (JP: 7203) +0.55% to ¥7,270 ($121.27; $120.93 Fri. close).