Wii Prospects Push Nintendo Shares To Record High

With less than a week remaining before North America kicks off the global launch of Nintendo's Wii, the company's stock has risen to a record high of 26,770 yen ($227.44) on expectations that the console might see the same success as Nintendo's DS. News of the all-time stock price high follows news from late October that the company’s second quarter profits rose by 72 percent on the same period last year, following the global chart-topping success of the DS handheld and its accompanying first party software. Since the beginning of 2006 alone, shares in Nintendo have risen 88 percent, while the benchmark Nikkei average has risen only a slight 0.8 percent. While precise unit shipping numbers for the Wii's North American launch have not been announced, Nintendo has said it expects to ship a total of 4 million consoles globally during the six weeks between the system's launch on November 19 in North America and the end of 2006. The Japanese launch of the system will follow North America on December 2nd.