Tokyo stocks open lower on profit-taking

TOKYO: Tokyo stocks opened lower Wednesday on profit taking following a mixed close on Wall Street, with investors cautious about over-valuation of stocks after recent rallies.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.52 percent or 158.70 points at 30,309.05 in early trade, while the broader Topix index slipped 0.10 percent or 1.88 points to 1,963.20.

The dollar fetched 106.09 yen in early Asian trade, against 105.99 yen in New York late Tuesday.

"Japanese shares are seen moving in a narrow range following a mixed close in the US market, with a sense of overheating prompting sell orders on profit-taking," Toshiyuki Kanayama, senior market analyst at Monex, said in a commentary.

Toyota was down 0.89 percent at 8,229 yen after it said it will suspend 14 lines at nine of its 15 automobile assembly plants in Japan for up to four days as parts procurement has been affected by a powerful earthquake that hit the northeastern part of the country on Saturday.

It has also been affected by cold weather across parts of the United States.

Among its rivals, Honda was up 0.72 percent at 3,083 yen and Nissan rose 2.80 yen to 619.4 yen.

Among other shares, chip-making equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron was down 1.77 percent at 43,330 yen while Sony was up 0.94 percent at 12,355 yen and mega bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial rose 0.71 percent to 565.8 yen.

Japan logged a trade deficit of 323.9 billion yen ($3 billion) in January, according to finance ministry data released 10 minutes before the opening bell.

The figure -- compared with market expectations of a 625 billion yen deficit -- did not prompt a strong reaction in the market.

On Wall Street, the Dow ended up 0.2 percent at 31,522.75, the broad-based S&P 500 closed down 0.1 percent and the tech-rich Nasdaq slipped 0.3 percent.