TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei share average eased back on Wednesday from an all-time peak scaled in the previous session, with technical signals suggesting the more than 9% gain made over the last three weeks had been too rapid.
The Nikkei was 0.19% lower at 39,164.63 as of mid-morning trade in Tokyo, after marking a record intraday peak of 39,426.29 in the previous session and an all-time closing high of 39,239.52. Overall, though, the market was fairly mixed, with decliners outnumbering advancers by only 123 to 101, with one stock flat.
Two heavyweight stocks, Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing and startup investor SoftBank Group, lost a combined 71 index points, equalling the decline for the Nikkei as a whole.
Meanwhile, e-commerce and gaming company DeNA stood out with a more than 24% surge on news that it would offer a new mobile game based on Pokemon trading cards.
The broader Topix slipped 0.29%, with a 0.43% slide in value shares outpacing a 0.16% drop in growth stocks.
A measure of momentum called the relative strength index (RSI) sat around 77 for the Nikkei on Wednesday, keeping it above the 70 line that indicates an overbought market every session since Feb. 13.
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“Considering the speed of the rally, the market is showing signs of overheating, so some pullback is easy to imagine,” said Maki Sawada, an equity strategist at Nomura Securities.
“Declines today aren’t driven by any particular bad news, so the extent of any retreat is likely to be limited.”
Among the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s 33 industry sectors, electric and gas led advancers with a 2.18% rise, followed by a 1.81% gain for paper and pulp.
At the other end, rubber products sank 1.38% to be the worst performer.
Shippers lost 1.25%.
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