Tokyo shares slip by noon, US data in focus

TOKYO: Tokyo shares slipped Tuesday morning with few concrete trading cues, as investors look ahead to a string of US data later in the day.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 0.54 percent, or 106.38 points, to end the morning session at 19,576.19, while the broader Topix index of all first-section shares retreated 0.44 percent, to 6.98 points, to 1,563.23.

Wall Street and London were closed for holidays on Monday while on Tuesday stock exchanges in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan were shut.

"Japanese shares are likely to remain trading in a tight range," Okasan Online Securities said in a commentary.

"There is a lack of cues. Players were likely to focus on individual stocks and selective buying."

"With President Trump returning home from a trip abroad, media reporting on 'Russiagate' will also pick up."

The White House has been shaken by an explosive Washington Post report that said his son-in-law and close adviser Jared Kushner had met with the Russian ambassador prior to Trump's inauguration and proposed a secret communications link to the Kremlin.

The talks between Kushner and the Russians, if confirmed, would raise new questions about the Trump team's relationship with Moscow, which US intelligence agencies say tried to sway the November election in the property tycoon's favour.

The budding crisis may also hinder Trump's ability to focus on pushing through his market-friendly economic policies.

Investors are looking to US data later in the day, including consumer confidence and home prices, with the readings likely to be taken as an important clue for future US interest rate hikes.

The Japanese government released figures Tuesday that showed household spending dropped again in April, while the unemployment rate stayed at 2.8 percent, the lowest in more than two decades.

That reaffirmed analysts' broad consensus that the Japanese economy was gradually picking up, but chronically weak consumption has prevented it from shaking off deflation.

The dollar weakened to 110.83 yen from 111.29 yen in European trading Monday afternoon, weighing on exporters.

Toyota fell 0.28 percent to 5,953 yen and Sony slipped 1.19 percent to 3,990 yen.

Telecom giant SoftBank rose 1.91 percent to 8,899 yen.