Tokyo stocks open lower with eyes on Ukraine

TOKYO: Tokyo stocks opened lower on Monday with investors closely watching the Ukraine crisis.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.54 percent or 143.23 points at 26,333.27 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was down 0.16 percent or 2.95 points at 1,873.29.

The Japanese market may see "drastic movement in prices, as uncertainty remains" over tensions in eastern Europe, even after US shares rallied on hopes for ceasefire negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, Okasan Online Securities said.

Tokyo stocks open lower on Ukraine worries

On Wall Street, the benchmark Dow Jones index finished 2.5 percent higher, the broad-based S&P 500 rose 2.2 percent and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 1.6 percent.

"It is hard to see the rally surviving the early part of the week after the EU, US, UK and Canadian governments agreed to the exclusion of at least some Russian banks from the SWIFT global payments system, and (to) sanction the Russian central bank," said Ray Attrill, senior strategist of National Australia Bank.

SWIFT's messaging system allows banks to communicate rapidly and securely about transactions, and cutting Russia off would cripple its trade with most of the world.

Japan also said late Sunday it will join Western nations in removing selected Russian banks from the SWIFT system.

"Markets are also opening up to" headlines that say Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his defence chiefs to put the country's nuclear "deterrence forces" on high alert, Attrill added.

The dollar fetched 115.57 yen in early Asian trade, against 115.56 yen in New York late Friday.

In Tokyo, Nippon Yusen was up 1.27 percent at 10,330 yen after a report said it will keep its ships from stopping at Ukraine.

Toyota was down 0.64 percent at 2,090.5 yen, Sony fell 0.72 percent at 11,725 yen, and SoftBank Group was off 1.38 percent at 4,999 yen.

Kawasaki Heavy Industries was up 1.65 percent at 2,092 yen after its state-of-the-art liquid hydrogen tanker successfully returned to Japan's Kobe port from Australia.

The vessel is loaded with super-cooled hydrogen -- a source of fuel that supporters hope could one day be a cleaner rival to LNG -- in a project Canberra has described as a "world first" trial of the technology.