Tokyo's Nikkei closes down more than 1.5% after US rout

TOKYO: Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei index closed down more than 1.5 percent on Thursday with investors disheartened by a bruising session on Wall Street.

The Nikkei 225 fell 1.53 percent, or 437.79 points, to 28,197.42, while the broader Topix index lost 1.14 percent, or 21.22 points, to 1,838.85.

Profit-taking dominated the Japanese market after key US indexes lost more than two percent following mixed earnings from large companies.

"But today's decline can still be seen as a temporary adjustment following recent gains," said Toshikazu Horiuchi, a broker at IwaiCosmo Securities.

"Some investors were even buying on dips, which sustained today's bottom," Horiuchi told AFP.

He added that the Tokyo market has shifted its focus to the release of earnings by major Japanese companies starting this week.

The dollar fetched 104.31 yen in Asian afternoon trade, higher than 104.13 yen in New York after the US Federal Reserve maintained ultra-loose interest rates.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell cautioned that the US economic outlook was "highly uncertain" in light of surging Covid-19 cases.

Toyota reclaimed the title of the world's top-selling auto maker in 2020 according to data released by the firm Thursday.

It dropped 1.74 percent to 7,397 yen on profit-taking.

Honda fell 1.56 percent to 2,793 yen but Nissan gained 1.82 percent to 552 yen.

Sony dropped 2.28 percent to 10,035 yen with Nintendo down 1.51 percent at 61,660 yen.

Biotech firm JCR Pharmaceuticals, which last month agreed with AstraZeneca to produce its vaccine in Japan, rallied 13.6 percent to 3,115 yen after the top government spokesman said at least 90 million doses of that vaccine will be produced domestically.