Japan's Nikkei sees choppy morning trade
TOKYO: Japan's Nikkei index saw choppy trade on Monday after opening lower in the wake of the yen's rise to a fresh post-war high against the dollar last week.
The headline index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange moved in and out of positive territory after opening lower, before regaining some ground to trade flat at around 0030 GMT.
The Nikkei index was up 0.01 percent, or 0.49 points at 8,719.73. The Topix index was down 0.19 percent, or 1.40 points, at 750.29.
Dealers said the Japanese stock market will be swayed by the yen's movement against the dollar, as the pair is under close scrutiny amid speculation the government will intervene to weaken the Japanese unit.
The safe-haven yen's strength, seen as a reflection of weak global risk appetite, encourages selling of exporter shares who see repatriated profits eroded by a strong domestic unit.
"At this level, we will still see funds flowing out of exporters and into domestic demand-related stocks," Takuya Yamada, senior portfolio manager at ITC Investment Partners, told Dow Jones Newswires.
The dollar slumped to 75.95 yen in intraday trade Friday, beating its previous post-World War II low of 76.25, which it reached days after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami hit Japan.
The dollar however strengthened in early Monday trading to 76.86 yen, compared with 76.50 yen late Friday in New York.
US and European stock markets' high volatility continues to shake investor sentiment, Yamada added.
On Friday, the Dow fell 172.93 points to close at 10,817.65.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011
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