NYT: After Panic, Tokyo Market Rebounds

[DeepModem Mom]

After Panic, Tokyo Market Rebounds
By JAMES BROOKE
Published: January 19, 2006


TOKYO, Thursday, Jan. 19 - Takafumi Horie, an Internet entrepreneur in Japan, has captured attention with his unconventional American-style approach to business....

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But this week, the flamboyant Mr. Horie was in the spotlight for a more somber reason: An investigation of his business, the Livedoor Company, on suspicion of securities fraud had helped to kindle a near panic in Japan as investors withdrew billions of dollars from the Tokyo stock market in the last two days.

In an attempt to calm the frightened investors, a parade of government officials, including Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, offered reassurances that economic fundamentals were in order. The chief government secretary, Shinzo Abe said, "It is desirable that stock prices firmly reflect economic fundamentals and move in a stable manner."

The tactic appeared to work on Thursday. With the market rebounding, buyers came in, seeking to scoop up stocks they saw as undervalued. The benchmark Nikkei index of 225 stocks was up about 350 points, or about 2.3 percent, by late afternoon.

Trading was extraordinarily heavy and was close to being suspended by late Thursday in order to avoid overloading its computers, which happened Wednesday when the market closed 20 minutes early....


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/19/business/worldbusiness/19livedoor.html

[Kagemusha]

1. Computers were probably the sellers in the first place.

Computers trying to out-guess other computers.