TOKYO: Tokyo shares drifted lower on Thursday in thin holiday trading after US stocks tumbled as investors took profits from recent rallies, though some individual stocks showed big moves.
Toshiba plunged for the third straight day and fell as much as 25.55 percent before paring losses to finish 15.43 percent down at 263.5 yen by the noon break.
The decline followed continuing investor unease after the company's Tuesday warning of a possible one-time loss of several billion dollars over its US nuclear business.
Struggling Japanese auto parts maker Takata, meanwhile, surged more than 16.5 percent to 707 yen after news it is close to settling a US criminal probe into an exploding airbag scandal.
Takata could reach a final agreement with the US Department of Justice before President-elect Donald Trump assumes office January 20, two sources told AFP, broadly confirming a report in the Wall Street Journal.
Officials want Takata to recognise its wrongdoing and pay a financial penalty that could exceed $1 billion, one source said.
Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 0.98 percent, or 190.79 points, to 19,210.93 by the break. The broader Topix index of all first-section issues lost 1.01 percent, or 15.57 points, to 1,521.23.
On Wall Street Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated from its push to hit the 20,000-point milestone, falling 0.6 percent to 19,833.68.
Shares of some banks fell more than one percent after the stock prices had won outsized gains in the rally seen since US election day.
"A market riding on expectations toward a Trump presidency is coming to a close, and we're starting to focus on reality," Mitsushige Akino, an executive officer at Ichiyoshi Investment Management, told Bloomberg News.
The dollar, meanwhile, eased against the yen, trading at 116.86 yen in midday, against 117.26 yen a day earlier in Tokyo.
In other Tokyo trading, Toyota fell 0.75 percent to 6,918, while Sony lost 1.32 percent to 3,294.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group lost 2.37 percent to 717.1.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.