Deutsche Bank halts nearly half its Japanese equity coverage

Deutsche Bank stopped equity coverage of 11 out of 27 Japanese sectors, the brokerage said in a note to clients today, citing “organizational changes.”

According to the note obtained by Bloomberg News, coverage has been suspended for the following sectors: communications, precision machinery, health care, information technology services, semiconductors, food, toiletries, trading houses, oil, chemicals and textiles.

Aston Bridgman, a Tokyo-based spokesman for the bank, declined to comment.

Analysts that covered those sectors for the bank include Takato Watabe for the chemicals industry, Yoshio Ando for communications companies and Yoshikazu Higurashi for precision machinery and imaging companies, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Watabe, ranked Japan’s No. 1 analyst by Nikkei Veritas magazine this year, joined Deutsche Bank in 2003 from Merrill Lynch Japan Securities, Bloomberg data show. Companies he covered include Mitsui Chemicals and Kuraray.

Ando came to the brokerage from Goldman Sachs in 2009, according to Bloomberg data. Stocks he covered include Internet social networking site Mixi Inc. and mobile carrier Softbank.