TOKYO: Tokyo stocks closed flat Monday as late profit-taking erased early gains, while investor focus began shifting to Japanese corporate earnings due in the coming days.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index edged down 0.01 percent or 2.54 points to 23,629.34, but the broader Topix index was up 0.06 percent, or 1.06 points, at 1,880.45.
Tokyo shares opened higher as investors are "hunting best buys from among individual shares," SBI Securities said in a commentary, noting that investors are cautious about a higher yen that could have a negative impact on exporters.
"But investors locked in profit in the afternoon before companies release their third-quarter earnings starting this week," Hikaru Sato, senior technical analyst at Daiwa Securities, told AFP.
The dollar changed hands at 108.78 yen, up from 108.63 yen in New York late Friday, but still down from 109.20 yen in Tokyo earlier Friday.
Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten rose initially after announcing plans to acquire a Nomura-owned property insurer, but closed down 0.68 percent at 1,013.5 yen
Panasonic was down 0.03 percent at 1,658.5 yen with Sony unchanged at 5,285 yen, but Toyota rose 0.46 percent to 7,643 yen.
On Friday, all three US major indices surged to new record highs following strong earnings reports from Intel and other companies, with the Dow closing up 0.9 percent at 26,616.71.
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