TOKYO: Tokyo’s benchmark stock index fell Tuesday as investors tracked a hefty sell-off in US technology firms.
The Nikkei 225 lost 0.37 percent, or 84.78 points, to close at 22,622.38, but the broader Topix index rose 0.23 percent, or 4.10 points, to 1,790.97.
“The high-tech sell-off has worsened overall sentiment,” said Toshihiko Matsuno, chief strategist at SMBC Friend Securities.
On Wall Street on Monday, the blue-chip Dow still mustered a modest record but the technology-heavy Nasdaq tumbled 1.1 percent.
“Investors seem to be rebalancing (their portfolios) to take profits towards the end of the year, moving out of high-performing technology and health-care issues into financial stocks that are likely to fare well next year,” Matsuno told AFP.
Toshikazu Horiuchi, a broker at IwaiCosmo Securities, said: “It is true that high-tech selling weighed on the market, but other shares, including domestic demand-related shares, are still stable, sustaining the market’s downside support.”
Japanese tech-tech giant SoftBank, a heavyweight in the Nikkei 225, fell 0.72 percent to 9,338 yen.
Electronics makers also dropped as Panasonic lost 0.76 percent to 1,616.5 yen with Sony down 0.74 percent at 5,186 yen.
Bucking the downtrend, Nidec rose 1.19 percent to 15,300 yen on the announcement late Monday that it would set up a joint venture with French automaker PSA to produce motors for electric vehicles.
The dollar was trading at 112.61 yen on Tuesday against 112.41 yen late in New York.
Source: Brecorder.com
