Tokyo stocks open lower with eyes on China data

TOKYO: Tokyo stocks opened lower on Tuesday after a mixed close on Wall Street with a dearth of fresh market-moving events and investors shifting their focus to Chinese economic data.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.67 percent or 185.37 points at 27,603.92 in early trade, while the broader Topix index slipped 0.61 percent or 11.96 points to 1,938.18.

On Wall Street, the Dow dropped but high-tech shares found favour following declines in long-term yields, driving up the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq indexes.

"Japanese shares are starting with declines as the mixed US market failed to give a fresh reason (to buy)," senior market strategist Toshiyuki Kanayama of Monex said in a note.

Investors were closely watching Chinese purchasing managers indexes for both manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors in August, to be released during Tokyo trading hours, he added.

The dollar fetched 109.94 yen in early Asian trade, against 109.91 yen in New York late Monday.

Among major shares in Tokyo, Toyota was trading down 0.79 percent at 9,459 yen, Sony was off 0.53 percent at 11,175 yen, and investment giant SoftBank Group was down 1.19 percent at 6,079 yen.

Among China-linked shares, construction machine maker Komatsu was down 0.79 percent and engineering firm JGC was off 1.20 percent at 907 yen.

Japan's unemployment rate in July stood at 2.8 percent, a 0.1 percentage point improvement from 2.9 percent in June, according to data released by the internal affairs ministry before the opening bell.

The data did not prompt strong market reaction.