TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei index fell on Wednesday, after hitting a 10-week high in the previous session, with Nintendo falling as the video game maker delayed the launch of a much-awaited game and shippers sliding on fears of easing demand.
The Nikkei share average declined 0.8% to 28,027.25, ending the day above the psychological 28,000 line after earlier dropping as low as 27,736.27.
It closed at 28,252.42 on Tuesday, the highest since Jan. 18, as investors snapped up shares to secure dividend payments.
The benchmark had climbed 14.3% from a 16-month trough on March 9. “There’s the sense that the rally is taking a break, and it comes as we head toward earnings season.
So, it’s hard to buy stocks aggressively from here,“ said a trader at a domestic securities firm. Of the Nikkei’s 225 component stocks, 174 fell, 48 rose and three were flat.
Japanese shares track Wall Street gains; autos and shippers shine
The broader Topix dropped 1.55% to 1,991.66.
The focus for Thursday, the final day of the fiscal year, will be whether it can stay above the 1,954 mark, which is where it ended the previous fiscal year, said a trader at a different domestic securities firm.
Nintendo plunged 5.75% after saying it was pushing back the release of the sequel to “Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” to spring 2023 from this year’s planned debut.
Among the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s 33 subsectors, shippers faired the worst, diving 6.23% following a rally the previous session, as optimism on the outlook for the conflict in Ukraine raised expectations that tight container demand could be due to ease. Nippon Yusen was the Nikkei’s biggest percentage decliner, tumbling 8.55%.
Iron and steel was the TSE’s second-worst subsector with a 4.10% slide, followed by a 3.87% slump for oil and coal products.
Among other notable decliners, Toyota Motor slid 1.88% and chip giant Tokyo Electron sank 1.33%.
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