Advertisement
Singapore markets open in 7 hours 33 minutes

  • Straits Times Index

    3,292.69
    +10.64 (+0.32%)
     

  • S&P 500

    5,020.47
    -15.22 (-0.30%)
     

  • Dow

    37,936.95
    +121.03 (+0.32%)
     

  • Nasdaq

    15,594.77
    -63.05 (-0.40%)
     

  • Bitcoin USD

    57,002.61
    -3,368.16 (-5.58%)
     

  • CMC Crypto 200

    1,188.60
    -150.47 (-11.24%)
     

  • FTSE 100

    8,121.24
    -22.89 (-0.28%)
     

  • Gold

    2,314.80
    +11.90 (+0.52%)
     

  • Crude Oil

    79.06
    -2.87 (-3.50%)
     

  • 10-Yr Bond

    4.6550
    -0.0310 (-0.66%)
     

  • Nikkei

    38,274.05
    -131.61 (-0.34%)
     

  • Hang Seng

    17,763.03
    +16.12 (+0.09%)
     

  • FTSE Bursa Malaysia

    1,575.97
    -6.69 (-0.42%)
     

  • Jakarta Composite Index

    7,234.20
    +78.41 (+1.10%)
     

  • PSE Index

    6,700.49
    -69.15 (-1.02%)
     

Tokyo stocks fall by break, despite Wall St record

AFP

Tokyo stocks lost early gains to end Wednesday morning's session lower, but loss-hit Toshiba soared on hopes for the sale of its prized microchip business.

Traders began the day on a high after Wall Street's three main indexes finished at new records for the seventh time in eight sessions.

Market expectations were rising that Trump would soon unveil details of a major tax cut plan, perhaps at his February 28 address to a joint session of Congress.

Rising oil prices and strong eurozone economic data also boosted sentiment.

But Tokyo's early gains fizzled as caution set in and the yen ticked up, which is bad news for Japanese exporters.

ADVERTISEMENT

The dollar weakened to 113.40 yen from 113.69 yen in New York.

"Moves to chase higher prices were limited with dollar buying losing steam and a wait-and-see mood spreading ahead of President Trump's Congressional address," Olasan Online Securities said in a commentary.

Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 0.19 percent, or 36.32 points, to 19,345.12 by the break while the Topix index of all first-section issues edged down 0.07 percent, or 1.16 points, to 1,554.44.

Market heavyweight Fast Retailing, operator of the Uniqlo clothing chain, fell 1.65 percent to 35,020 yen, Toyota slipped 0.12 percent to 6,470 yen and banking giant Mitsubishi UFJ Financial was down 0.23 percent at 772.2 yen.

But Toshiba soared nearly 12 percent to 205.2 yen on expectations for a planned sale of a stake in its microchip business, and after the 31.4-billion-yen sale of its medical finance unit to Canon.

Canon rose 0.85 percent to 3,299 yen.

Japan's Nikkei business daily said Wednesday that Toshiba had asked potential bidders to peg its chip division's value at two trillion yen or more.

The sale is seen as crucial for Toshiba to raise cash as it struggles with multi-billion-dollar losses in its US nuclear unit. The firm has warned it is investigating the division's accounting.

Rakuten jumped 9.05 percent to 1,126 yen after Japan's leading etailer said it would purchase more than eight percent of its own stock.

Share buybacks reduce the number of outstanding stock and tend to boost a firm's value.

mis/pb/dan