TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei share average fell on Tuesday as investors sold chip-related stocks to lock in profits, after a sharp rally drove the benchmark index to a record high in the previous session.
The Nikkei was down 0.45% at 39,928.90 by 0216 GMT.
“Investors sold the chip-related shares which were heavily bought in the rally, after Wall Street fell overnight,” said Jun Morita, general manager of the research department at Chibagin Asset Management.
The three main indexes in the US ended lower overnight, as investors took a pause ahead of economic data and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s congressional testimony.
After five consecutive weeks of gains, the Nikkei breached the 40,000 level for the first time on Monday and has risen 19% so far this year.
“But overall investors demand for Japanese stocks is firm, expanding their targets to a wide range of stocks.
That lifted the Topix index to a positive territory,“ Morita said. The broader Topix cut its early losses to trade 0.1% higher at 2,708.99.
Chip-testing equipment maker Advantest slipped 3.9% to become the biggest drag on the Nikkei, followed by chip-making equipment maker Tokyo Electron, which fell 0.74%.
Japan’s Nikkei at record high, tech and insurance shares gain
Air-conditioning maker Daikin Industries lost 2.1%. Obayashi Corp surged 18% after the general contractor raised its dividend forecast.
Peers Kajima Corp and Taisei Corp rose 6.87% and 5.6%, respectively.
The construction sector rose 2.4% to become the top performer among the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s 33 industry sub-indexes.
Fast Retailing edged up 0.5% to provide the biggest support to the Nikkei, after the Uniqlo-brand clothing store operator said its existing store sales in February rose 7.2% from a year earlier.
Of the 225 Nikkei components, 102 stocks rose and 119 fell, while four were flat.
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