Tokyo stocks down at break as yen stays firm

TOKYO: Tokyo stocks slipped Monday morning with a stronger yen pressuring exporters, while US data disappointed and North Korea's latest missile launch revived fresh geopolitical concerns.

North Korea said it carried out a successful test of a new type of "ballistic rocket" on Sunday that experts said had an unprecedented range and brought US bases in the Pacific within reach.

"US economic data wasn't good, pressuring the yen higher, and geopolitical risks are being highlighted again with North Korea's missile launch," said Mitsuo Shimizu, deputy general manager at Japan Asia Securities.

"But local corporate earnings results should, overall, be a market supportive factor with many companies' keeping their forecasts modest," he told Bloomberg News.

The dollar was trading at 113.35 yen, against 113.33 yen in New York but well down from the levels near 114 yen seen earlier Friday in Asia. Traders move into the safe-haven yen in times of uncertainty and turmoil.

A stronger yen is negative for Japanese exporters as it reduces the value of repatriated profits earned overseas.

Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 0.21 percent, or 41.75 points, to 19,842.15 by the break, while the Topix index of all first-section issues was down 0.24 percent, or 3.83 points, at 1,576.88.

Toyota slipped 0.66 percent to 6,007 yen and Nissan shed 1.39 percent to 1,092 yen.

But industrial conglomerate Hitachi jumped 6.13 percent to 662.9 yen after issuing a robust earnings outlook.

Toshiba rallied 4.22 percent to 263.8 yen at the break but soon after the recess began, the firm said it would delay reporting its annual earnings for the recently ended fiscal year and warned it will likely book a net loss of 950 billion yen.

The fate of the troubled conglomerate's plan to sell its prized chip business has turned murky just at a time when it needs cash to finance its rehabilitation after suffering massive losses at its US nuclear business.

Bidders reportedly include Taiwan's Foxconn and South Korea's Samsung as well as a US alliance of chipmaker Broadcom and private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners.

But Western Digital, a manufacturing partner of Toshiba, says it has filed a request for arbitration to have a say in the planned sale, raising the possibility of a delay.

The Financial Times reported Monday that senior Japanese government officials are eyeing a loan guarantee of up to $8 billion to keep Toshiba's chip business Japanese.

Nomura Real Estate Holdings remained untraded as buying bids overwhelmed sell offers after a weekend report by the Nikkei business daily that Japan Post is considering buying the realtor.

SoftBank fell 2.79 percent to 8,415 yen on worries over its US mobile business.