Tokyo's Nikkei closes down

TOKYO: Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei index erased early gains and closed lower Thursday on profit-taking, snapping a four-day winning streak.

The Nikkei 225 index fell 0.20 percent, or 55.49 points, to 28,015.02, while the broader Topix index edged down 0.03 percent, or 0.53 points, to 1,953.55.

Tokyo stocks had opened higher following rallies on Wall Street and in other major markets, as fears over US inflation receded.

"But investors were trying to cash in on recent gains," Shinichi Yamamoto, a broker at Okasan Securities, told AFP.

Corporate earnings reports are also influencing the market, largely in predictable ways, he said.

"Trading is expected to remain thin and stay in the current range" during the summer holiday period, Yamamoto added.

The dollar stood at 110.38 yen in Asian afternoon trade, compared with 110.43 yen in New York late Wednesday.

E-commerce firm Rakuten plunged 6.40 percent to 1,257 yen after saying its net loss had swelled for the six months to June.

Advertising giant Dentsu, which is heavily involved in organising the Tokyo Olympics, surged 5.02 percent to 4,285 yen as it forecast a return to the black for the current fiscal year.

And Toshiba lost 4.08 percent to 4,460 yen after the troubled industrial conglomerate said it returned to the black in the first quarter, but left its full-year operating profit forecast unchanged.