TOKYO: Tokyo shares fell by noon Thursday on a stronger yen and as cautious investors eyed upcoming earnings reports that will illustrate the initial impact of the March 11 disasters on corporate Japan.
The Nikkei 225 index shed 57.32 points, or 0.59 percent, to 9,583.86. The Topix index fell 3.93 points, or 0.47 percent, to 840.66.
"It's difficult to buy stocks as we reach closer to the release of earnings results by major Japanese companies," Cosmo Securities strategist Toshikazu Horiuchi told Dow Jones Newswires.
Uncertainty hangs over the Japanese economy as the impact of the earthquake and tsunami continues to emerge, amid an ongoing nuclear crisis at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant whose reactors were crippled by the wave.
Investors sold amid fresh concerns about the troubled complex plant operator Tokyo Electric Power which reported high radiation levels at reactor No. 4's spent fuel pool.
However, shares in TEPCO later recovered to gain 0.99 percent at 507 yen by the break Thursday.
Japan on Wednesday lowered its assessment of the economic outlook for the first time in six months, citing the impact of the disaster on exports, production and consumer sentiment.
The move came after the Bank of Japan last week downgraded its view of an economy ravaged by the quake and the monster wave it unleashed, which destroyed entire towns and left more than 28,000 dead or missing.
Key supply chains have been broken and power shortages have crippled production for Japan's biggest companies. The International Monetary Fund on Monday cut its forecast for Japanese growth.
The yen stayed high at 83.48 to the dollar, from 83.79 in New York Wednesday, boosted by President Barack Obama's announcement that the US would cut its deficit by $4 trillion.
The Japanese currency stood at 120.61 to the euro from 120.98 in New York.
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