TOKYO: Tokyo stocks traded lower after opening flat on Tuesday following a choppy US session, with investors shifting their focus to a US-China summit.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.26 percent, or 78.87 points, at 29,697.93 about half an hour after the opening bell, while the broader Topix index, which opened higher, was down 0.05 percent, or 0.93 points, at 2,047.59.
The Japanese market is starting with a weak appetite "following falls in US shares, with (investors) watching the online US-China summit," senior market analyst Toshiyuki Kanayama of Monex said in a note.
US President Joe Biden and China's Xi Jinping were holding talks during Tokyo trading hours at a virtual summit aimed at calming tensions over Taiwan and other flashpoints.
The two leaders have spoken by phone twice since Biden's inauguration in January but with Xi not travelling abroad because of the pandemic, an online video meeting was the only option short of an in-person summit.
Most of the attention in the build-up to the meeting has focused on the sparring over Taiwan, a self-ruling democracy claimed by China.
Biden's aides have cast the summit as an opportunity to help prevent tensions from escalating.
The dollar fetched 114.16 yen in nearly Asian trade, against 114.12 yen in New York late Monday.
Among major shares in Tokyo, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group was up 1.04 percent at 651.9 yen after it raised its annual profit forecast more than expected.
Steelmakers were mixed after Japan and the United States agreed to start talks on steel and aluminium tariffs on imports from Japan, with Nippon Steel trading up 0.23 percent at 1,919.5 yen while Kobe Steel was down 0.83 percent at 595 yen.
Trading house Marubeni was up 0.98 percent at 1,029.5 yen after a rating agency lifted its credit outlook to "positive" from "stable".
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