Sharp leads drop for Nikkei’s exporters

Shares in Sharp Corp tumbled to a 33-year low on Tuesday as investors continued to sell out of the television maker.

“Sharp has yet to come up with radical solutions for falling sales of TVs,” Shiro Mikoshiba, analyst at Nomura said.

The bank cut Sharp’s price target to Y494 from Y505, prompting the shares to drop 9.3 per cent to Y468. Last week it reported sharper than expected losses for the financial year ending 2013.

Japanese electronics groups helped to drag the Nikkei 225 Average down 1.8 per cent to close at a 2½-month low.

TDK Corp fell 6.6 per cent to Y3,940 after the consumer electronics group announced a lower-than-expected operating profit forecast for the year ending March 2013.

Shares in Tokyo Electron fell 8.3 per cent to Y4,085 after it announced disappointing operating profit guidance for 2012.

More broadly, Japanese exporters suffered as the yen continued to rally, extending its two-month high against the dollar.

In Australia, the Reserve Bank of Australia cut interest rates by 50 basis points to 3.75 per cent, boosting sentiment in the market.

The S&P/ASX 200 hit a nine-month closing high of 4,429.5, up 0.8 per cent on the session.

Woodside Petroleum helped to lead gains after the Perth-based oil and gas company announced it had sold a stake in its Browse LNG project to Japan’s Mitsui & Co and Mitsubishi Corp. The shares rose 3.8 per cent to A$36.20.

The RBA announcement also gave a boost to shares in retailers and construction companies. The cut was expected to provide a financial fillip to the two sectors.

Department store chain Myer Holdings climbed 3 per cent to A$2.42 on news of the RBA rate cut, while shares in David Jones rose 2 per cent to A$2.54.

Boral, the building materials maker, increased 3.4 per cent to A$3.91.

Markets in China, Japan, India, South Korea, Hong Kong, Macao, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam were closed for holidays.