Tokyo stocks closed 1.06 percent lower on Thursday, with videogame giant Nintendo and Canon tumbling after their latest earnings disappointed investors, and after Wall Street fell sharply. The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange fell 189.51 points to 17,606.22, while the Topix index of all first-section shares lost 1.14 percent, or 16.34 points, to end at 1,413.58.
Tokyo's fall into negative territory came after Wall Street finished a volatile session sharply lower as worries about the strong dollar and falling oil prices outweighed some positive earnings reports. Oil prices falling below $45 a barrel, close to their lowest level in six years, renewed concern about slowing inflation and declining global demand. That spooked investors who are already nervous about the impact of political uncertainty in Greece on the 19-member eurozone.
As a result, all three benchmark US indices fell, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbling 1.13 percent. The Federal Reserve, meanwhile, failed to buoy markets when it repeated its pledge to remain "patient" regarding the first US interest rate hike since 2006. "Investors are negative on the Fed comments because they were hoping for more clarity on when they will raise rates, as proof that they see the US recovery as a genuine one," Andrew Clarke, director of trading at Mirabaud Securities Asia, told Bloomberg News.
Official Japanese data showed the country's retail sales slipped 0.3 percent in December, the third consecutive monthly decline, marking a further blow to Tokyo's efforts to reignite the economy. Skymark Airlines shares lost a quarter of their value after the struggling carrier filed for bankruptcy protection, citing potentially crippling penalties over a cancelled $2.2 billion jet order with Airbus. The embattled airline's shares dropped 25 percent to 237 yen ($2) - their daily loss limit. Rivals All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines rose 0.89 percent to 328.0 yen and 1.76 percent to 4,040.0 yen, respectively.
Nintendo dropped 8.66 percent to 11,235.0 yen after its earnings, published after markets closed Wednesday, failed to impress investors. The videogame giant said its April-December net profit soared six-fold to $504 million as a sharply weaker yen boosted its bottom line, but the Super Mario creator trimmed its full-year sales and operating profit forecasts. Renesas Electronics, meanwhile, surged 15.11 percent to 853.0 yen after the chipmaker revised up its earnings forecast.
Canon shares dropped 5.11 percent to 3,741.0 yen after its net income for the nine months through December, posted Wednesday, fell short of market expectations. Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal slipped 1.90 percent to 289.1 yen after Japan's top steelmaker said its nine-month net profit dropped 20.3 percent, as it slashed its full-year profit forecast, citing the impact of plunging oil prices on a Brazilian pipe-making unit.
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