Japan Tobacco Declines After NHK Reports Smoking Ban

Source from:  Bloomberg 03/25/2009

Japan Tobacco Inc., the world's third-largest publicly traded cigarette maker, fell the most in three weeks in Tokyo trading after NHK reported the nation may ban smoking in hospitals, schools and government offices. The cigarette maker's shares fell as much as 3.8 percent to 235,700 yen, the most since March 2, and traded 2.6 percent lower at 238,600 as of 10:26 a.m. Japan's health ministry plans to announce the policy next month and will ask local governments to designate the facilities where the smoking ban will be enforced, public broadcaster NHK said in a report on its Web site, without citing anyone. The health ministry is considering smoking bans in designated public areas and will announce a policy this year, spokeswoman Kana Takahashi said by phone today, declining to provide more details. The government owns 50 percent of Tokyo-based Japan Tobacco. The percentage of Japanese men who smoke has fallen by about half during the past 40 years to 40 percent because of an increase in health consciousness. Restaurants and hotels will be exempt from an outright ban, NHK said. In 2002, Tokyo's Chiyoda ward became the nation's first local government to introduce a ban on smoking in public areas covering about one-third of the ward. Enditem