Komatsu, Hitachi machinery shares fall on Caterpillar

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Komatsu suffered at the hands of Caterpillar’s profit announcement. (DAVID BOILY/AFP/Getty Images)

Komatsu and Hitachi Construction Machinery, Japan's two biggest makers of earthmoving gear, dropped in Tokyo trading after Caterpillar cut its profit goal on lower US sales.

Komatsu, the world's second-largest maker after Peoria, Illinois-based Caterpillar, slid 2.9% to 3720 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The price was the lowest since September. Hitachi Construction dropped 4.3% to 4670 yen, its biggest decline since August.

Caterpillar lowered its full-year profit forecast as the U.S housing slump-reduced sales of construction equipment in North America. Tokyo-based Komatsu relied on 27% of its sales from the Americas in the fiscal first quarter ended June, making the region its biggest market. Hitachi Construction got 12% of sales from the market.

"Investors sold shares of Komatsu and other Japanese machinery makers after Caterpillar's earnings failed to meet the market's expectations,'" said Teruhiko Nishimura, an analyst at Credit Suisse Group in Tokyo, in a statement. "The market paid attention to Caterpillar's earnings to see Japanese machinery-sector's overseas demand," he added.

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