TMCnet News
Tokyo stocks continue to fall on worries over Ukraine, Gaza(Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Tokyo stocks continued to fall Friday as the crash of a Malaysia Airlines plane in Ukraine and the escalating conflict in Gaza made market players risk-averse. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended down 154.55 points, or 1.01 percent, from Thursday at 15,215.71. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange finished 10.09 points, or 0.79 percent, lower at 1,263.29. A wide range of stocks came under selling pressure from the outset of the day's trading, after U.S shares fell overnight due to intensifying geopolitical risks. On Thursday, a Malaysia Airlines passenger plane was suspected to have been shot down over eastern Ukraine near the Russian border, leaving 298 people dead, while the Israeli military launched a ground operation against the Islamist group Hamas in Gaza. "Market participants stayed cautious as what's behind the Malaysian airplane crash is unclear," said Ayako Terada at Nomura Securities Co.'s investment research department. The market, however, somewhat recouped early losses from mid-morning as investors determined that the incident in Ukraine "was unlikely to be an event that could decide the markets' direction ahead," said Takuya Takahashi, senior strategist at Daiwa Securities Co. In the afternoon, a wait-and-see mood intensified as traders were reluctant to take large positions ahead of Japan's long weekend, with the Marine Day national holiday on Monday, Takahashi added. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones by 1,427 to 289 on the First Section, while 99 ended unchanged. All sectors but mining and land transport turned lower, with insurance and brokerage shares, as well as glass and ceramics, among the major decliners. Exporters met with selling as the U.S. dollar remained weak in the lower 101 yen zone. Honda lost 32 yen, or 0.9 percent, to 3,569 yen, Panasonic declined 15 yen, or 1.2 percent, to 1,193 yen and Tokyo Electron pared 136 yen, or 1.9 percent, to 7,026 yen. The heavily weighted Nikkei component Fast Retailing shrank 520 yen, or 1.6 percent, to 32,355 yen and another such component Softbank was down 23 yen, or 0.3 percent, at 7,654 yen. Benesse Holdings dropped 75 yen, or 1.8 percent, to 4,085 yen one day after the correspondence education provider said it will set aside 20 billion yen to compensate customers over the massive theft and leakage of personal information, possibly by reducing fees for its educational programs or offering cash vouchers. Sharp slipped 7 yen, or 2.1 percent, to 321 yen on news reports that the struggling electronics maker is likely to post a net loss of over 10 billion yen for the April-June period. Bucking the weakness, Yaskawa Electric rallied 58 yen, or 4.4 percent, to 1,384 yen one day after the electric motor maker said its consolidated net profit in the first three months of fiscal 2014 rose 32.5 percent year-on-year to 4.47 billion yen. Trading volume on the main section decreased to 1,843.78 million shares from 2,285.65 million shares on Thursday. (c) 2014 Kyodo News |