Japan's top 10 firms include plenty of losers (like me)

[Taro Toporific]

Japan's top 10 firms include both winners and losers
By TOKYO (CBS.MW) Sept 26
-- Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 is up solidly in the past year, but a look at the nation's 10 largest companies by total stock value shows an uneven pattern of winners and losers.....
Mizuho, Japan's biggest bank, was the top gainer among the largest 10. It jumped 28.3 percent this year on rising expectations that the nation's economy is recovering.
By contrast, DoCoMo's share price has fallen 18.5 percent amid intensifying global telecommunications competition, making it the worst performer among the 10. Its parent NTT was the second worst performer, with a 15.1 percent loss so far this year.
"Banks represent the sector that had been burdened with too many negative factors such as bad debts years ago, but they are quickly transforming in the positive direction," said Hiroyuki Nakai, chief strategist at Tokai Tokyo Research Center Co. Ltd. in Tokyo.