TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei share average fell for a seventh straight session on Wednesday, as a stronger yen dragged down exporters including automakers and as energy stocks tumbled after oil prices slid to three-year lows.
The Nikkei was down 0.8% to 35,867.33 by the midday break.
The broader Topix fell 0.9% to 2,552.8.
The yen continued its march higher to hit an eight-month peak against the dollar.
A stronger yen tends to hurt exporter shares as it decreases the value of overseas profits in yen terms when firms repatriate them to Japan.
Shares of exporters slid, with the underperformance of automakers standing out.
Toyota Motor stumbled 1.9%, while Mitsubishi Motors Corp declined 3.9% and was among the top percentage losers on the Nikkei.
Energy-related shares also saw some of the largest losses after oil prices hit their lowest in three years on Tuesday on demand concerns.
Nikkei falls for sixth day ahead of US inflation data
Tokyo Gas fell 6%, while Osaka Gas lost 4.5%.
Analysts saw limited impact from the US presidential debate between Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that took place during Asian trading hours.
But a US consumer price index report generated some caution ahead of its release later on Wednesday, said Masahiro Ichikawa, chief market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management.
“Focus on price-related economic indicators has somewhat decreased compared to before, but still, tonight’s CPI is an important indicator.”
Among individual stocks, Mitsui & Co briefly rose more than 4% after the general trading company announced an increase in the amount of buybacks planned and extended the buyback period.
Nikkei heavyweights Fast Retailing and Advantest slid 1.6% and 1.2%, respectively, while Tokyo Electron and SoftBank Group were both up about 1%.
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