Tokyo stocks close down on late profit-taking

TOKYO: Tokyo shares closed lower Thursday on late profit-taking after its main index temporarily broke above the 24,000-mark for the first time in more than 26 years.

The Nikkei 225 index lost 0.44 percent, or 104.97 points, to 23,763.37, while the broader Topix index was down 0.74 percent, or 13.96 points, at 1,876.86.

Earlier in the day the benchmark Nikkei index traded above the key psychological 24,000-mark for the first time since November 1991 following a decent rally on Wall Street.

But the early gains were erased as investors cashed in on the recent rise, said Hikaru Sato, senior technical analyst at Daiwa Securities.

"It is no surprise if such profit-taking can emerge again following strong rallies since the beginning of this year," Sato told AFP.

The dollar fetched 111.14 yen in Asian trade, down from 111.26 yen in New York late Wednesday.

In Tokyo, exporters had mixed fortunes.

Toyota fell 1.07 percent to 7,698 yen but Sony was down 0.18 percent at 5,499 yen.

However, Advantest, a maker of semiconductor-testing devices, jumped 3.13 percent to 2,338 yen and Kyocera, an electronic components maker, rose 1.05 percent to 7,735 yen.

Toshiba was up 0.31 percent at 315 yen after it confirmed in a statement that it will avoid a humiliating delisting from the main stock exchange following a large capital injection.

Nintendo jumped 2.36 percent to 46,360 yen after announcing plans to launch Nintendo Labo, a cardboard DIY play kit for its Switch console.

On Wall Street, the blue-chip Dow gained 1.3 percent to close at 26,115.65 -- just eight trading sessions after breaking the 25,000 mark -- with strong showings from Boeing, IBM and Intel.