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Tokyo stocks edge lower after recent rally(Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Tokyo stocks closed slightly lower Thursday as selling to lock in recent gains offset buying stemming from strong U.S. economic growth data. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended down 25.46 points, or 0.16 percent, from Wednesday at 15,620.77. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange finished 2.82 points, or 0.22 percent, lower at 1,289.42. Stocks drew buying from the outset of trading following an overnight report that U.S. gross domestic product expanded an annualized real 4.0 percent in the April-June period, beating the market projection of a 3.0 percent rise. "The dollar's rise in the wake of the U.S. GDP data increased investor hopes of improved earnings by Japanese exporters," said Hiroichi Nishi, assistant general manager of equity research at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. Export-related shares, including automakers and electronics firms, were briefly in demand in the morning session as the dollar remained steady in the upper 102 yen zone. The market, however, gradually became top-heavy and fell into minus territory due to selling to take recent profits, said Tsutomu Yamada, market analyst at kabu.com Securities Co. "Investors turned cautious in testing higher ground" following the recent rally, Yamada added. A sense of overheating spread in the market as the Nikkei rose about 3 percent in about a week, brokers said. Falling issues outnumbered rising ones by 1,166 to 519 on the First Section, while 132 closed unchanged. Nonferrous metals were among the day's poorly performing sectors, with Sumitomo Metal Mining falling 46.0 yen, or 2.6 percent, to 1,730.5 yen and Mitsubishi Materials sagging 9 yen, or 2.3 percent, to 380 yen. Other major decliners included food, fishery and rubber products shares while consumer finance and air transport shares gained ground. Nintendo plunged 800 yen, or 6.5 percent, to 11,525 yen after the gaming giant reported a group net loss of 9.92 billion yen in the April-June quarter, compared with a year-earlier profit of 8.62 billion yen. Torii Pharmaceutical lost 65 yen, or 2.1 percent, to 3,095 yen on the company's earnings report saying its nonconsolidated net profit in the April-June period dropped 46.6 percent year-on-year to 435 million yen. In contrast, Colopl soared 700 yen, or 21.5 percent, to 3,960 yen one day after the smartphone application developer revised upward its outlook for parent-only net profit in the year through September to 12.45 billion yen, compared with its earlier projection of 10 billion yen. ANA Holdings gained 5.8 yen, or 2.3 percent, to 256.5 yen after announcing Wednesday that the parent of All Nippon Airways returned to the black in the April-June quarter for the first time in two years. Trading volume on the main section increased to 2,409.17 million shares from Wednesday's 1,943.98 million shares. (c) 2014 Kyodo News |