Tokyo Stocks Edge Down On Profit-taking

Tokyo stocks edge down on profit-taking

Tokyo stocks closed marginally lower on Thursday, taking a breather from a recent string of gains as investors watched for developments in Brexit talks in Brussels

Tokyo, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Oct, 2019 ) :Tokyo stocks closed marginally lower on Thursday, taking a breather from a recent string of gains as investors watched for developments in Brexit talks in Brussels.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 0.09 percent, or 21.06 points, to 22,451.86, snapping a four-day winning streak.

The broader Topix index was down 0.45 percent, or 7.35 points, at 1,624.16.

"It is only natural that the market takes a break after the Nikkei rallied more than 1,000 points in the past four trading days," said Seiichi Suzuki, senior market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Institute.

"We can say the bottom is solid, as is the US market." On Wall Street Wednesday, the Dow Jones index slipped 0.1 percent as lingering questions over Brexit talks and the state of US-China trade relation offset another batch of good earnings.

"Buying sentiment is not so weak as investors expect additional fiscal measures" to boost the economy in the wake of the typhoon disaster in Japan, Toshikazu Horiuchi, a broker at IwaiCosmo Securities, told AFP.

Equity analysts pointed to doubts about whether revived efforts between British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Union officials will yield a Brexit agreement that can win support in Britain.

"Bearish investors are hoping for a hard Brexit scenario as they had already sold a lot," Suzuki at Tokai Tokyo said.

"If the outcome is a no-deal or postponing a conclusion, it would provide them a buy-back opportunity." The Dollar held steady, trading at 108.75 Yen in Asian afternoon trade against 108.71 yen in New York Wednesday afternoon.

In individual stocks trade, SoftBank Group rose 1.05 percent to 4,295 yen after the Nikkei business daily reported it was planning to propose a $5-billion financial package for WeWork.

"A big cash injection would wipe out worries for now but no-one knows whether it would be enough or whether they would still need to solve fundamental problems such as questions about its (WeWork's) business model," Suzuki said.

Toyota lost 0.96 percent to 7,383 yen, while Nissan was down 0.53 percent at 685.1 yen.

Nintendo dropped 2.73 percent to 39,060 yen but Sony gained 2.10 percent to 6,510 yen.