By Stanley White
TOKYO, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Japanese shares fell the most in
almost five weeks on Friday after Kansai Electric Power Co Inc
9503.T revealed payments to executives from an outside
individual, at a time the government is calling for improved
governance to attract foreign investors.
Shares in Apple Inc AAPL.O supplier Japan Display Inc
6740.T also tumbled the most in more than three months after a
Chinese investor withdrew from an 80 billion yen ($742.46
million) bailout of the smartphone screen maker. The Nikkei 225 index .N225 ended down 0.77% at 21,878.90
after briefly touching its lowest since Sept. 11.
At a hastily arranged news conference on Friday, Kansai
Electric President Shigeki Iwane said he and some other
executives had received 320 million yen payments from a person
outside the company over a period of seven years. The revelation came after Kyodo news agency reported the
deputy mayor of a town hosting a Kansai Electric nuclear power
plant had disclosed such payments to tax authorities as a token
of appreciation. The deputy mayor has since died, Kyodo said.
"The news about Kansai Electric suggests this problem goes
right to the top of the organisation, and this problem could get
bigger still," said market analyst Yutaka Masushima at Monex
Securities.
"Of course, there is a risk this leads to a decline in trust
in Japanese stocks. Trust from overseas investors could fall.
We've had other governance problems in the past."
Since taking office in 2012, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has
enacted policies to improve corporate governance to attract more
foreign investors. However, the effort suffered a blow last year
from an executive pay scandal at Nissan Motor Co Ltd 7201.T .
For the full week, Nikkei shares fell 0.91% for the steepest
weekly decline since Aug. 16, as sentiment for stocks weakened
globally due to concerns about the broader market impact of an
impeachment probe of U.S. President Donald Trump. There were 189 decliners on the Nikkei index against 33
advancers on Friday.
The largest percentage losses in the Nikkei 225 index were
Kansai Electric at 5.71%, followed by Sumitomo Corp 8053.T
losing 4.60% and Chiba Bank Ltd 8331.T down by 4.42%.
The largest percentage gainers were Fanuc Corp 6954.T by
2.23%, followed by Sumco Corp 3436.T at 1.86% and Advantest
Corp 6857.T up by 1.69%.
The broader Topix .TOPX ended down 1.17% at 1,604.25.
The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's
main board .TOPX was 1.13 billion, versus an average of 1.16
billion yen over the past 30 days.
($1 = 107.7500 yen)
Apple supplier Japan Display loses out on Chinese funds, bailout
at risk Kansai Electric to hold news conference on reports of
payments report complains of White House cover-up on
Trump-Ukraine scandal ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>