Japan’s surprise victory over Spain at the World Cup spiced up sports and broadcast similar moves in Tokyo exchanges on Friday. Football-like moves have a quick and long-term benefit.
Japan reached the knockout stages with its first momentary victory over a European soccer superpower in the tournament. They came back from beating Spain, the 2010 world champions, 2-1.
The result in Qatar was shown with the final whistle when Japan woke up for its day. Hub Co. (T:3030), which operates an English-style pub chain in Japan, saw its shares rise 13. 2% at the opening and impressive ground thanks to a 7. 0% gain at Friday’s close.
The trend of Japan’s victory over Spain is virtually the same as Japan’s equally unexpected 2-1 victory over four-time World Cup winners Germany. At the moment in between, despite giving up the maximum of possession. The significance of Spain’s result is greater, however, as the result eliminated Germany from the tournament and saw Japan as the top of its four-team group.
Aside from five-time world champion Brazil, no team has had greater luck at the World Cup than Germany. But for the time being consecutive World Cup, Die Mannschaft will be on the first flight home. Despite beating Costa Rica 4-2, Germany’s last loss to Japan and a 1-1 draw with Spain saw them finish third in their Spain and Japan organization.
Japan will advance to play Croacia. La Croatia lost to France in the final of the last World Cup, but are now an aging team led by the creaking legs of 37-year-old Luka Modric. Spain is also complex as runners-up, to face Morocco, which strangely ruled the Croatian group, with Belgium in third place and Canada in fourth place sent home.
Japan’s progress indicates a sustained interest in the tournament itself in the No. 1 and No. 3 in the world. The United States already showed up to face the Netherlands on Saturday, having finished in the English group.
ÀTokyo, the virtual advertising firm CyberAgent (T:4751) (CYGIY), majority owner of the Abema streaming service that broadcasts matches in Japan, closed the day with 4. 0%. Intraday, it rises to 7. 3%.
Sportswear and football boot maker Mizuno (T:8022) opened with a gain of 2. 8%, investor enthusiasm faded due to a sell-off in the market.
Online market Mercari (T:4385) (MCARY) saw its shares rise 3. 7% at the close. The gains were clearer at the beginning of the Tokyo operation, following the victory.
Japan’s e-commerce site, Rakuten Group (T:4755) (RKUNY), ended up 1. 1%.
Abema’s streaming service is 55. 2% owned by CyberAgent, its joint venture partners, TV channel Asahi Holdings (T:9409), down 1. 0%, and advertising company Dentsu (T:4324) (DNTUY), down 1. 7%, in line with the wider market. TV Asahi has a 36. 8% stake in Abema, while Dentsu owns 5. 0%.
The maximum direct winner of the result can simply be Adidas (ADDYY), the shirt sponsor of the Japan national team. Its shares opened with a slight gain of 0. 3% in Europe, the increase in sales of blouses in Japan or to the Japanese. Fans, they did not move the needle for a market capitalization of 23. 4 billion US dollars.
Japan’s national game is sumo and baseball is seen as the unofficial flag bearer. But football is widely followed among Japan’s 124 million citizens. The Japanese team, like South Korea, is also followed by enthusiasts who buy jerseys in other East and Southeast Asian countries regularly do not percentage the same kind of success.
There are possible long-term gains for sportswear brands if participation in football increases in Japan after the World Cup. Not only is the J-League popular, but Japanese players are making a call for themselves in major European leagues. Of the 11 starters opposed to Spain, 8 of the Japanese national team are founded in Europe, part of them in the German Bundesliga.
The day was sometimes bad for Japanese stocks. The broad Topix ended the day down 1. 6%, with the Nikkei 225 index falling Japanese large-cap of the same magnitude. Sales were strongest in small and mid-caps.
As a result, Japan’s victory was not overwhelmingly positive for sporting goods manufacturers. Industry leader and sports shoe specialist Asics (ASCCY) (T:7936) fell 1. 2%.
We are seeing a reversal of some of the trends that have driven the yen to its weakest grades since 1990. All his moderation from the US Federal ReserveUU. se combined with any suggestion of a replacement policy at the Bank of Japan to weaken the dollar and yen.
The yen’s weakness has benefited the stocks of major exporters and companies such as Japanese automakers that have production outside the country. Stronger monetary support would reduce imported inflation, but hurt foreign exchange sales outside Japan.
The Japanese currency fell below 134 yen against the U. S. dollar in Friday’s Asian trading. Its weakness peaked in October at rates just above 150 yen to the dollar. In early November and now early December, there have been stronger increases in the yen. .
There will be little change in the Bank of Japan’s super-accommodative financial policy, at least until the end of the term of current BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda. But Kuroda will step down on April 8, so his successor is likely to be appointed shortly after Japan’s parliament resumes in January.
While there is no major update in BOJ policy, there have been rumors about the need for a sophisticated update. Former BOJ board member Makoto Sakurai said in mid-November that a policy overhaul was needed once Kuroda resigned.
BOJ Executive Director Shinichi Uchida told the Japanese parliament he would not rule out raising key interest rates, agreeing with Kuroda that it was still too early to exit the BOJ’s accommodative financial policy. The market interprets this as meaning that Japan could simply increase 10-year yields, lately controlled at around 0%, or short-term rates, still at -0. 1%.
The main catalyst for the yen’s initial weakness is the strength of the US dollar, not the Japanese economy. Therefore, comments such as the suggestion of the chairman of the US Federal Reserveof other members of the Fed board, eased the dollar’s tension against the yen and other Asian currencies.
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