Yahoo Finance Tokyo stocks close down 0.94%
Tokyo stocks closed down 0.94 percent on Monday as investors locked in profits after the benchmark Nikkei 225 index briefly jumped past the 11,000 mark for the first time in nearly three years.
The Nikkei slipped 102.34 points to 10,824.31 after a weaker yen helped it push past 11,000 for the first time since April 2010. The Topix index of all first-section shares was down 0.36 percent, or 3.31 points, to 913.78.
Yoshihiro Okumura, general manager at Chibagin Asset Management, said the dollar's rise above 91 yen and Nikkei hitting the 11,000 mark sparked selling.
"The market has come too far too fast to allow cash to sit on the table," he told Dow Jones Newswires. "At some point, investors have to lock in gains or risk getting burned."
A weakening yen has been a key contributor to Tokyo's recent rally as it makes Japanese exports more competitive overseas.
In Tokyo forex trade the dollar bought 90.82 yen, from 90.87 yen in New York on Friday, while the euro was at 122.11 yen from 122.28 yen.
The single currency was at $1.3444 from $1.3457.
In stock trading, Takeda Pharmaceutical rose 1.42 percent to 4,615 yen after its diabetes drug won US Food and Drug Administration approval, while retailer Seven & i Holdings, which operates 7-Eleven convenience stores in Japan, was up 3.09 percent at 2,794 yen.
Industrial robotics maker Fanuc dropped 7.00 percent to 13,550 yen after revising down its full-year financial outlook, as Japan's corporate earnings seasons gets under way this week.
Sony jumped 9.06 percent to 1,407 yen owing to the weak yen and after Merrill Lynch Japan raised its target price on the stock, while Osaka-listed videogame giant Nintendo was up 3.43 percent at 9,630 yen.
Shares in GS Yuasa, which makes Dreamliner batteries, closed up 4.77 percent at 329 yen as Japan's transport ministry said safety inspectors had found no major problem with the firm's production line, further muddying the waters in a worldwide probe of Boeing's next-generation aircraft.
Toyota shares were down 0.57 percent to 4,315 yen and Honda was off 0.58 percent at 3,400 yen while Nissan bucked the market downturn by closing up 2.40 percent at 895 yen.
Earlier Monday, the trio released upbeat sales and production figures, with Toyota logging a 22.6 percent rise in 2012 sales to 9.75 million vehicles.
