Wednesday, 22 July 2015 13:25
TOKYO: Tokyo’s benchmark index closed 1.19 percent lower on Wednesday, ending a six-day winning streak as a stronger yen dented exporters and weaker-than-expected iPhone sales weighed on Apple’s Japanese suppliers.
The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange dropped 248.30 points to finish at 20,593.67 after bouncing back to a near 18-year high on Tuesday.
The Topix index of all first-section shares fell 1.11 percent, or 18.51 points, to 1,655.37.
Tokyo picked up a negative lead from Wall Street where the Dow sank 1.00 percent, the S&P 500 dropped 0.43 percent and the Nasdaq lost 0.21 percent, snapping a streak of three straight record highs.
Apple shares tumbled after it released a report showing net profit leapt almost 40 percent in April-June but iPhone sales were weaker than expected and sales forecasts also fell short.
In response, Murata Manufacturing’s shares dropped 4.59 percent to 945 yen while Japan Display tumbled 4.04 percent to 403 yen.
A drop in Apple-linked shares was “contributing to the worsening market sentiment”, Tomoichiro Kubota, senior market analyst at Matsui Securities, told Bloomberg News.
Other major exporters also fell with Sony declining 1.35 percent to 3,530.5 yen and Toyota falling 1.17 percent to 8,278 yen.
Toshiba rose 1.70 percent to 393.1 yen, a day after its president and string of other executives resigned over a $ 1.2 billion accounting scandal in which they inflated profits stretching back years.
The allegations in a report by a company-hired panel offered investors some clarity about the size of the problem and who was responsible after months of uncertainty about Toshiba’s finances.
In currency markets, the dollar weakened to 123.57 yen from 123.86 yen in New York. A stronger yen hurts the profitability of Japanese exporters.
