we may want to keep track of kawasaki heavy industries and mitsui engineering and shipbuilding. the two companies ended their talks for a possible merger and there will be more on that later and we want to follow the shares of export related companies as they are very sensitive to the recent volatility in the currency market and speaking of which let's see how the yen is faring against the major currencies. the dollar is trading at 95.24-26 against the yen. it fell to the upper 93 level on thursday and that's the lowest in more than two months since the bank of japan announced its aggressive monetary policy. the dollar rebounded as the strong economic data improved the outlook for the u.s. economy, and later today, we'll receive reports on u.s. producer price index at industrial production and we'll see how this plays into the dollar/yen. let's have a look at euro/yen, the currency pair is at 127.23-28. the market plays the euro as investors are more willing to take risk with the strong performance on wall street. so we'll continue to keep track of any developments and see how j

as if it were a foregone conclusion. >> murayama said board members will not pursue a merger with mitsui. instead he said they would consider joint ventures with other firms. major talks reveal the tough business climate for the industry and were designed to strengthen their marine energy businesses. >>> the japanese government has formulated its long-term economic and fiscal policies. the document states it should balance its budget by fiscal 20 and even consider cutting social security costs to reduce the nation's snowballing debt. a government panel finalized this on thursday. the plan calls for achieving an average gross domestic product gross of about 3% in nominal terms and around 2% in real terms over the next decade. the plan expects a nation per capita gross national income to increase by more than $15,000 in ten years. the government has been urged to halve its deficit by 015 and turn the balance into a surplus by fiscal 2020 as it has pledged. the plan specified social security as an area the government should consider cutting costs but stopped short of setting num irerical ta

last thursday kawasaki industries announced it had scrapped negotiations to merge with mitsui engineering and shipbuilding. the chairman of the shipbuilders association noted on tuesday that japan's shipbuilding industry has capacity that's double the actual demand. he said cutting this capacity will be one way to narrow the supply/demand gap. he said the industry's reorganization is already underway. he added that the collapse of the merger talks will not disrupt this broad movement. >>> a new york-based activist hedge fund says it has raised its stake in the japanese electronics giant sony. now the fund company is seeking to put more pressure on sony to spin-off its interpaentertainme sectors. u.s. officials informed in a letter that the company had boosted its stock holdings of sony. the hedge now holds nearly 7% of sony's outstanding shares up from more than 6%. the letter reiterated third point's previous suggestion. in may the fund urged sony to spin-off its movie and music division and sell part of its shares on a u.s. stock market. that would enable it to secure funds for the reha

early last month, sumimoto mitsui banking corporation decided to invest about $1.5 billion in the lender bank tabungan pensiunan nasional. >>> japan's most revered mountain has been chosen as a unesco world heritage site. the iconic mt. fuji has become the country's 17th site to be awarded world heritage states. >> adopted. >> [ speaking foreign language ]. >> the world heritage committee decided to designate mt. fuji as a cultural heritage site at the meeting in the cambodian capital of phnom penh. members have been screening 30 heritage candidates. they have also endorsed other sites including the sand sea in namibia and mt. etna in italy. mt. fuji is japan's highest peak. it has been regarded as a sacred site for centuries. it also has been an inspiration for japanese art and culture. the governors of the prefectures of yamanashi and shizuoka, which straddle the mountain, expressed gratitude at the meeting. >> we'll continue to do our utmost to preserve the natural environment and the current landscape surrounding fuji so that it will forever be loved by the people of the world. >> th