Nintendo market value at $85 billon thanks to Wii

By Kiyoshi Takenaka

TOKYO (Reuters) - Nintendo Co Ltd zipped past 10 trillion yen ($85 billion) in market value on blistering demand for its red-hot game machines, having almost tripled in value since launching its new Wii console late last year.

Nintendo is now Japan's third-most valuable listed company behind automaker Toyota Motor Corp and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Japan's largest bank, and analysts see the game machine maker's shares setting more high scores.

Nintendo's Wii and handheld DS machines have catapulted the once struggling brand past Sony Corp's latest PlayStation consoles and Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360.

The stock rose 5.3 percent to 71,300 yen on Monday, bringing its market capitalization to 10.1 trillion yen -- a fivefold increase in the past two years.

Nintendo's market capitalization is almost double that of Sony, whose total revenue is more than eight times as big as Nintendo's.

"There's more upside than downside risk," KBC Securities analyst Hiroshi Kamide said.

"There's every reason to believe Nintendo will continue to execute its strategy well in expanding the gaming industry to strengthen its position ... and really keep doing what it's been doing regardless of what competition is doing," he said.

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