TOKYO – Tokyo stocks opened lower today on profit-taking, weighed down by falls on Wall Street, as focus shifts to the Bank of Japan’s policy decision later in the day.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.93%, or 280.86 points, at 29,935.89 in early trade, while the broader Topix index slipped 0.69%, or 13.84 points, to 1,994.67.
“Japanese shares are seen starting with falls on profit-taking after US stocks dropped,” said Toshiyuki Kanayama, senior market analyst at Monex.
Investors “may react to the Bank of Japan’s policy decision later in the day”.
“Reports say the central bank may expand its long-term yield target a little”, in addition to tweaking the targets of its asset-purchase programme.
The bank has said it will assess the effectiveness of its massive monetary-easing policy at this month’s meeting.
The dollar fetched ¥109.01 (RM4.12) in early Asian trade, against ¥108.90 in New York late yesterday.
Among the major shares in Tokyo, Sony was down 1.12% at ¥11,500 and Hitachi slipped 0.56% at ¥5,365, but Panasonic was up 1.15% at ¥1,410.
ANA Holdings was up 1.17% after a report said it is confident about recovery in its freight business.
Japan’s core consumer price index, which excludes fresh food, was down 0.4% year-on-year last month, in line with market expectations, according to official data released before the opening bell.
The headline figure did not prompt a strong market reaction.
On Wall Street, the tech-rich Nasdaq plunged 3.0%, the benchmark Dow slipped 0.5% to 32,862.17, and the broad-based S&P 500 was down 1.5% at the close, weighed down by a rise in US government bond yields. – AFP, March 19, 2021
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