Tokyo stocks open lower on US high tech
Tokyo shares opened lower Wednesday as risk-on sentiment receded after Wall Street stocks took a hit as a key vote on President Donald Trump's health care reform was delayed.
High-flying technology stocks were among the biggest losers on a down day for US stocks Tuesday, with the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropping 1.6 percent to 6,146.62 and the Dow edging down 0.5 percent to 21,310.66.
"Following falls in US and European bourses, Japanese share are also likely to ease," Okasan Online Securities said in a commentary.
Declines in US high-tech shares are "worsening investor sentiment," it said, but adding that the yen's relative cheapness against the dollar would offset some of the downward pressure.
The dollar fetched 112.10 yen in Asian trade Wednesday against 112.33 yen in New York and 111.71 yen in Tokyo Tuesday afternoon.
Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 0.40 percent, or 80.07 points, to 20,145.02 in early trading, while the Topix index of all first-section issues declined 0.19 percent, or 3.11 points, to 1,615.91.
Toshiba was down 0.27 percent at 293.8 yen after it said it was not able to reach a final deal before the annual shareholders meeting Wednesday to sell its prized memory chip business to a consortium of US, South Korean and state-backed Japanese investors.
Some Japanese high-tech shares sagged.
Hitachi was down 0.58 percent at 682.5 yen, chip-testing machine maker Advantest was down 0.88 percent at 2,012 yen, while game giant Nintendo was down 0.91 percent at 38,960 yen.