TOKYO: Tokyo stocks opened lower Wednesday, shrugging off positive impacts from a cheaper yen and fractional gains on Wall Street as trade war worries continued to weigh on the market.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 0.14 percent to 22,311.19 in early trade while the broader Topix index was down 0.08 percent at 1,729.61.
“It is still difficult to trade actively, with concerns lingering over trade friction around the US and a lack of fresh market-moving information,” SBI Securities said in a commentary.
The dollar fetched 110.12 yen in early trade, up from 109.77 yen in New York late Tuesday.
US President Donald Trump renewed his attacks on Harley-Davidson Tuesday, threatening to tax the company for offshoring manufacturing and saying the iconic American motorcycles should “never” be built outside the United States.
One day after the company said it was planning to shift some manufacturing overseas due to the European Union’s tariffs in retaliation for US duties, Trump accused Harley-Davidson of appropriating the trade war as an “excuse” for the move.
EU officials, meanwhile, suggested Trump had only himself to blame for falling out with a company he had previously hailed as “a true American icon.”
The EU responded to US tariffs on steel and aluminium by hitting a series of American products with import taxes, including motorcycles, bourbon and blue jeans.
In Tokyo, automakers were trading lower with Toyota slipping 0.32 percent to 7,058 yen and its smaller rival Honda down 2.22 percent at 3,245 yen.
Hitachi lost 0.77 percent to 773.1 yen while Toshiba rose 2.76 percent to 334 yen as it held a general shareholders’ meeting.
Oil-linked shares rallied on stronger crude prices, with Inpex gaining 0.44 percent to 1,126.5 yen and JXTG trading up 1.67 percent at 747.5 yen.
In New York Tuesday, the Dow advanced by 0.1 percent to 24,283.11.
Source: Brecorder
