Japanese shares open 0.65pc lower

TOKYO: Japanese shares opened 0.65 percent lower on Wednesday, after data showed a sharp slowdown in Germany's economic growth and US stocks broke a three-day winning streak.

The Nikkei index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange opened 59.54 points lower at 9,047.89. The Topix index fell 0.47 percent or 3.68 points to 775.38.

"Concerns about a slowdown in both Europe and in the United States continue to be at the core of investors' minds," Yutaka Miura, a senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.

Wall Street closed down overnight, ending a rally after three days, following a Germany-France summit that dashed hopes for immediate steps to resolve the eurozone debt crisis.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy -- the leaders of the two biggest eurozone economies -- met Tuesday in Paris and vowed to give the eurozone bloc a "true economic government".

But experts said their pledges were not enough to defuse the debt crisis.

The single European currency fell against the dollar in Tokyo, fetching $1.4352 in morning trade against $1.4406 late Tuesday in New York.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011