Bridgestone Corporation

Asian Activities Report for January 16, 2012 includes: China Southern Airlines (HKG:1055) (SHA:600029) has become a major international sponsor and the official airline for Sydney Festival 2012; Hisense Group (SHA:600060) was honored with the "Value Innovation Award" for its I'TV2 product at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas on January 10th; Chiyoda Corporation(TYO:6366) says that its joint venture company with JGC Corporation (TYO:1963) and Kellogg Brown & Root, has been awarded an engineering, procurement and construction ("EPC") contract for the Ichthys LNG plant facilities in Australia; Bridgestone Corporation (TYO:5108) has developed a revolutionary new printing technology for tires that is different from any tire printing or coloring process on the market today; Elecom Co., Ltd. (JASDAQ:6750) has unveiled its latest USB products, which features a function for encrypting stored data through a strong encryption algorithm called AES 256 bit.

Wall Street Tuesday posted modest gains following the report on the upbeat consumer confidence and home prices data. Technology stocks were also supported by news that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was developing a new iPhone. Yesterday Asian markets closed mostly higher. This week investors are also looking to the US nonfarm payroll data and expecting an improving labour market. Japanese stocks broadly gained led by steel makers. Nikkei rose 1 per cent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 0.7 per cent while China's Shanghai Composite added 0.2 per cent. South Korea's Kospi increased 0.5 per cent.

Asian markets mostly ended higher Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 ended up 0.3%, as exporters cheered for a recent weakness in the yen. Shanghai Composite rose 0.8% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was also slightly higher in a choppy trade session. But South Korea stocks ended down the fourth day this week. The sustainability of the rising streak could be a question amid the negative outlook in global markets. Today Seoul shares opened 3 per cent lower, dragged by the financial sector.