TOKYO: Tokyo stocks gave up early gains to end the morning session lower Tuesday as caution set in hours before the US votes in the nail-biter US presidential election.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index slipped 0.15 percent, or 26.37 points, to 17,150.84 by the lunch break, after starting in the black.
The Topix index of all first-section issues was flat, edging down 0.37 points to 1,362.43.
"It's difficult to say until we see the results, but shares do seem to be pricing in a Clinton victory," Ryuta Otsuka, a strategist at Toyo Securities Co, told Bloomberg News. "We started high but we're now stumbling."
Global markets rose on Monday after US authorities again cleared Clinton of criminal wrongdoing over her handling of e-mails from a private server.
Her White House rival Donald Trump is viewed as a wildcard by markets because of his unpredictability and broadsides against the Federal Reserve, free trade and other targets.
In Tokyo market heavyweight Fast Retailing, operator of casual fashion brand Uniqlo, fell 0.32 percent to 36,520 yen but SoftBank rose 1.16 percent to 6,438 yen after the mobile carrier said its first-half profits soared nearly 80 percent.
Nikon was up 0.79 percent at 1,639 yen after the Nikkei business daily reported it plans to eliminate about 1,000 jobs in Japan, or 10 percent of its domestic workforce, mainly in the loss-making sectors of cameras and microchip-making devices.
In forex markets, the dollar bought 104.36 yen against 104.53 yen in New York Monday.
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