Japan: Best and Worst Performing ADRs Last Week and YTD

A majority of Japanese ADRs trading on the NYSE/NASDAQ posted weekly gains, helped by a slightly stronger yen. It was a mixed performance in the first-half of 2007, with nearly the same number of double-digit advancers as decliners.

The Nikkei was mostly flat in Monday trading, while the broader TOPIX rose 0.3%, on in-line results from the Bank of Japan's tankan (quarterly business confidence survey).

On average, the 27 Japanese ADRs gained a combined 0.6% last week and are now back in positive territory for the year, up 0.3%.

Average weekly Japanese ADR returns over the past two months:

06/15 - 06/22: -2.2%
06/08 - 06/15: +0.3%
06/01 - 06/08: -0.5%
05/25 - 06/01: +2.6%
05/18 - 05/25: +1.1%
05/11 - 05/18: -2.6%
05/04 - 05/11: +0.4%
04/27 - 05/04: +0.6%

The five best performing ADRs last week:

1. ORIX (IX) 4.7%
2. Honda (HMC) 3.0%
3. TDK (TDK) 2.9%
4. Kyocera (KYO) 2.8%
5. NEC (NIPNY) 2.6%

The five worst performing ADRs:

1. Mitsui & Co. (MITSY) -3.7%
2. Nomura (NMR) -2.7%
3. Sony (SNE) -2.0%
4. Hitachi (HIT) -1.7%
5. Wacoal (WACLY) -1.4%

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

Click to enlarge chart

In Monday trading in Tokyo, among stocks with ADRs, Mitsui & Co. (MITSY) paced advancers +3% to ¥2,530, Nidec (NJ) +2.1% to ¥7,390, Makita (MKTAY) +1.6% to ¥5,570, ORIX (IX) +1.2% to ¥32,850, Mitsubishi UFJ (MTU) +0.7% to ¥1.37m; Advantest (ATE) lost 1.5% to ¥5,290 and Millea Holdings (MLEA) -1% to ¥5,010.

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