Tokyo stocks open lower after mixed US close

TOKYO: Tokyo stocks opened lower on Tuesday after Wall Street shares lost steam following recent rallies.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.15 percent or 43.59 points at 28,975.65 in early trade, while the broader Topix index slipped 0.17 percent or 3.36 points to 1,957.49.

Investors continue to weigh optimism about economic recovery against persistent inflation uncertainty and the implications for the US Federal Reserve's tapering of its monthly asset purchases.

"Japanese shares are seen moving in a narrow range" after a mixed close on Wall Street, Mizuho Securities said in a note to clients.

"Hopes for normalisation of economic activity with the progress of vaccination at home is supporting market sentiment, though a wait-and-see attitude will grow ahead of the release of the US consumer price index for May due on Thursday," it added.

The dollar fetched 109.30 yen in early Asian trade, against 109.26 yen in New York late Monday.

Toyota was down 1.23 percent at 9,795 yen, and investment giant SoftBank Group was off 1.23 percent at 8,053 yen but Uniqlo casual wear operator Fast retailing was up 0.43 percent at 84,480 yen.

Eisai was unpriced in early trade as it was overwhelmed by buy-orders after the United States approved the Alzheimer's drug it developed with Biogen, the first new medicine against the disease in almost two decades.

Japan's economy contracted by 1.0 percent during three months to March, compared with the previous estimate of a 1.3-percent quarter-on-quarter contraction, the revised data by the Cabinet Office released on Tuesday showed.

The latest reading, released before the opening bell, did not prompt strong market reaction.

On Wall Street, the Dow ended down 0.4 percent at 34,630.24 and the broad-based S&P closed down 0.1 percent while the tech-rich Nasdaq ended up 0.5 percent.