5:00AM New York, 7:00PM Tokyo- Automakers and electric utilities suffer as oil price exceed $100 per barrel.

Stocks in Japan traded lower after a surprise write-downs of $2.85 billion at Credit Suisse that unnerved investors and resurgent oil prices.

Market Sentiment

In Tokyo trading Nikkei 225 slipped 3.25% or 447.54 to 13,310.37, and the broader Topix Index fell 3.2% or 42.57 to 1,302.72.

In the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange 9.7 billion shares valued at 1.2 trillion yen were traded and in the second section 452 shares worth 4.6 billion yen changed hands.

Of the Nikkei 225 shares 9 gained, 214 declined and 2 were unchanged. Bridgestone led gainers in the Nikkei 225 index shares with a rise of 2.09% followed by Sapporo Holdings increasing 1.22%.

Oil Prices Increase

Crude oil prices for March delivery gained 4.7% to $100.01 per barrel yesterday in New York trading on expectations that OPEC will cut production in the next meeting on March 5.

The continued decline of the dollar has also driven investors into commodities.

KKR engages Creditors

KKR Financial Holding LLC, (KFN: chart) an affiliate of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, notified the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that a debt repayment due on February 15 on notes issued by conduits holding mortgage-backed securities has been deferred until March 3 and the other 50% is scheduled for payment on March 13. The recent deferment follows after the restructuring of loans in October of 2007 when, $270 million of debt payment of mortgage backed securities was deferred.


Credit Suisse in Shock Writedowns

Credit Suisse yesterday announced a second write-down in as many weeks on asset backed securities valuation in structured vehicles of $2.85 billion after “mismarkings and pricing errors” that were discovered when the company conducted an internal review of its asset backed positions.

Last week, the lender reported a loan loss and asset writedowns of 12.5 billion francs.

Housing Investment to Recover

The Bank of Japan showed in minutes of the January 21-22 meeting published on its web site today that it expects the negative effects of the tighter housing conditions that were caused by the promulgation of the revised Building Standards Law in July last year will gradually fall away.

According to the minutes, the Bank also expects that the economy will continue to expand moderately.

Yen Falls

The yen declined today by 0.21% from 107.55 to 107.57 against the dollar.

Gainers & Losers