Tokyo stocks open lower on higher yen

• Tokyo stocks opened lower on Wednesday as a higher yen and falls on Wall Street weighed on the market.
• The dollar fetched 107.68 yen in early Asian trade, against 107.69 in New York and 108.25 yen in Tokyo late Tuesday.
• The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.49 percent or 108.16 points at 21,777.08 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was off 0.58 percent or 9.23 points at 1,593.77.

TOKYO: Tokyo stocks opened lower on Wednesday as a higher yen and falls on Wall Street weighed on the market.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.49 percent or 108.16 points at 21,777.08 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was off 0.58 percent or 9.23 points at 1,593.77.

The dollar fetched 107.68 yen in early Asian trade, against 107.69 in New York and 108.25 yen in Tokyo late Tuesday.

"Japanese shares are seen dominated by sell orders following a trend of the yen strengthening and falls on Wall Street," Yoshihiro Ito, chief strategist at Okasan Online Securities, said in a commentary.

Sony was down 1.17 percent at 6,240 yen after its gaming unit slashed the price of the PlayStation Now cloud video game service.

Automakers were among losers, with Toyota trading down 0.81 percent at 7,180 yen and Honda down 1.74 percent at 2,817.5 yen.

China-linked shares were also lower, with industrial robot maker Fanuc falling 1.78 percent to 20,095 yen and electronic parts maker Rohm down 1.18 percent at 8,360 yen.

In New York, the Dow ended down 1.3 percent at 26,573.04.