Japanese megabanks 'in red in last quarter' Japanese megabanks Mitsubishi UFJ and Mizuho Financial appear to have experienced a group net loss in the three months to December due to a plunging stock market, a major daily reported Saturday. It would be the first quarterly net loss for Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group since its establishment in 2005 through the merger of Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group and UFJ Holdings. Mizuho Financial Group was also in the red in the previous quarter to September. But Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, the other of Japan's top three banks, appears to have remained in the black as the value of its stock holdings is low, the daily said. Japanese financial giants have been relatively resilient to the global credit crunch that has pushed banks worldwide to the brink of bankruptcy, but they are now being squeezed by weak markets and a recession at home. Japanese share prices have sharply dipped since October as the global financial crisis worsened. The key Nikkei average of the Tokyo Stock Exchange ended the year at 8,859.56 points, down more than 2,000 from the end of September. The group net losses of Mitsubishi UFJ and Mizuho Financial in October-December are both estimated at "several tens of billions of yen," the daily quoted unnamed senior officials of the companies as saying. Ten billion yen is worth some 111 million dollars at the current exchange rate. As a result, the two megabanks are seen likely to revise downward their earnings forecasts for the full financial year to March 2009 unless Japanese share prices recover, the Mainichi said. Mitsubishi UFJ's annual net profit is forecast to drop 65 percent to 220 billion yen in the year. Mizuho Financial expects a drop of 19 percent in its annual net profit to 250 billion yen. Sumitomo Mitsui forecasts its net profit for the year to plunge 61 percent to 180 billion yen. (AFP, Jan 04) Link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iPymkTYHojWiHsfjU0OAHn1jEe0g