Tokyo stocks dip at break ahead of Britain vote, Comey

TOKYO: Tokyo stocks slipped Wednesday morning as investors look ahead to Britain's general election and sacked FBI chief James Comey's testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The British vote, a European Central Bank policy meeting and testimony from Comey -- whom US President Donald Trump fired last month as he probed the tycoon's campaign's ties to Russia -- all take place Thursday.

"It's hard to go for stocks before Comey's testimony is done with," said Seiichi Miura, a strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.

"With equities trading within range of fresh highs, there's a strong inclination among investors to offload their holdings for now," he told Bloomberg News.

Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 0.32 percent, or 63.05 points, to 19,916.85 by the break, while the Topix index of all first-section issues slipped 0.26 percent, or 4.12 points, to 1,592.32.

The dollar remained under pressure, buying 109.48 yen, against 109.42 yen in New York.

Exporters were mixed, with Canon down 1.21 percent at 3,887 yen while Nissan rose 0.51 percent to 1,073.5 yen.

Nintendo gave up 0.77 percent to 34,360 yen after advancing to an eight-year high on rosy sales prospects.

Energy firms rebounded, with Japan Petroleum Exploration rallying 4.96 percent to 2,282 yen after a jump in oil prices Tuesday.