Nintendo share price jumps on release of new Pokemon game
Shares in video game giant Nintendo soared in early trading this morning, after the release of its new Pokemon game.
The Japanese firm's stock was up 10 per cent at one point, to their highest level in more than two months.
Pokemon GO, a new smartphone game, was released on Wednesday, and shot to the top spot in the free app chart in Apple's US iTunes store. It was also launched in Australia and New Zealand this week and is expected to be rolled out in Japan soon.
The game is free to download but offers in-app purchases. "It has more (monetisation) than we expected; as users build their Pokémon inventory, spending money becomes needed to store, train, hatch and battle," Macquarie Securities said in a note.
Analysts noted that purchases in Australia so far were not being driven by people spending money in-app but by large user numbers.
Nintendo said it will release four more smartphone games in the current financial year, and expects mobile gaming to help boost annual operating profit by a third to 45bn yen (£346m). The group struggled last year, with sales hurt by poor demand for its portable 3DS console and a strong yen putting pressure on the balance sheet.