Nintendo shares slide as games firm loses out on Nikkei 225 slot
NINTENDO’S exclusion from the Nikkei 225 caused the video game maker’s share price to plummet eight per cent in Tokyo yesterday.
Speculation in recent months has been rife that Nintendo would join the index – having transferred the company’s listing from the Osaka stock exchange to Tokyo during the exchange’s merger – has caused Nintendo’s stock to rise 34 per cent since January.
Last week the Nikkei added Nitto Denko, a materials manufacturer, and Tokyu Fudosan, a holding company, to the index, but Nintendo was absent from the announcement.
The Nikkei reviews its membership annually every autumn, with changes to the index made by October.
Yesterday Nintendo’s share price closed at ¥10,860, down from Friday’s closing price of ¥11,850.
Last month Nintendo cut the price of its Wii U games console in response to the upcoming launch of Microsoft’s competitor to the Wii U, the Xbox One, which is due to launch 22 November.
The Wii U has struggled in numbers of sales in recent months as the launches of rival consoles from Microsoft and Sony approach. The company will start selling an entry-level 2DS portable console for £110 on 12 October.
Nintendo reported hardware sales last quarter, ending June 2013, of ¥81,548m down 3.8 per cent from the same quarter in 2012.