Nintendo's value drops to new annual low

TOKYO: Nintendo's market capitalisation slipped to less then half of its start of year value yesterday as the Nikkei recorded a 9.4 per cent fall, following continued meltdown in the global financial sector.

The publisher's stock fell by JPY 3700 (USD 37) to JPY 31,000 (USD 310) across the day, a fall of 12 per cent, bringing the total drop since the start of 2008 to 53.7 per cent.

Sony also suffered a worse-than-market fall of 12 per cent, with both companies being hit by fears on exports over a stronger yen coupled with the global slowdown - ironically the Japanese currency is currently something of a refuge while others are weakening.

However, although the Nikkei initially fell on opening on Thursday, it had soon recovered to sit around 1 per cent up on the previous day's figure following strong action from US and European central banks.

Elsewhere in the world, Wednesday also saw spectacular losses for some other publishers, with SCi heading the list - the UK-based company saw its stock plunge by over 15 per cent across the day, while shares in retailer Game dropped by over 8 per cent.

Infogrames, now headed up by David Gardner and Phil Harrison - and which recently announced the appointment of Paulina Bozek - fell by over 13 per cent on the day.

But the three largest publishers in the West - Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts and Ubisoft - remained untroubled by the freefalling markets. While EA posted a fall of just 0.41 per cent yesterday, Activision Blizzard was up 0.8 per cent, while Ubisoft saw its stock climb by almost 2 per cent.