Nintendo shares soared another 14 per cent on Tuesday, more than doubling the firm's market capitalisation to 4.5 trillion yen (€38.4 billion) in just seven sessions since the mobile game Pokemon Go was launched.
The phenomenal success of Pokemon Go - now available in 35 countries, the majority in Europe, and most recently in Canada - has triggered massive buying in Nintendo shares, surprising even some seasoned market players.
“I’ve never seen the trend of such a big company’s shares changing so quickly in such a short period of time,” said Takashi Oba, senior strategist at Okasan Securities.
100% gains
Nintendo shares ended Tuesday up 14.4 per cent at 31,770 yen, bringing its gains to more than 100 percent since the launch of the game on July 6th.
Turnover in Nintendo shares hit 703.6 billion yen, surpassing the record for trading turnover in individual shares it set on Friday, of 476 billion yen.
Trading in Nintendo shares roughly accounted for a quarter of the entire trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s main board.
The success of Pokemon Go, unforeseen even by its creators, has boosted hopes that Nintendo could capitalise on a line-up of popular characters ranging from Zelda to Super Mario to strengthen its new foray into augmented reality.
The popularity of Pokemon Go is producing an unexpected boom in some shares that have a scant link to the game.
Shares in First Baking Co, a bakery firm with annual sales of 25 billion yen, saw its shares rise 18 per cent on Tuesday as the firm sells “Pokemon Bread” among other breads wrapped with character-decorated bags.
Reuters
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