AIRLINK 77.84 Decreased By ▼ -2.55 (-3.17%)
BOP 4.87 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-1.02%)
CNERGY 4.28 Decreased By ▼ -0.07 (-1.61%)
DFML 45.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.51 (-1.12%)
DGKC 85.97 Decreased By ▼ -2.83 (-3.19%)
FCCL 22.45 Decreased By ▼ -1.11 (-4.71%)
FFBL 32.00 Decreased By ▼ -1.00 (-3.03%)
FFL 9.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.07 (-0.73%)
GGL 10.09 Decreased By ▼ -0.18 (-1.75%)
HASCOL 6.55 Decreased By ▼ -0.16 (-2.38%)
HBL 112.00 Decreased By ▼ -1.00 (-0.88%)
HUBC 141.20 Decreased By ▼ -1.36 (-0.95%)
HUMNL 10.97 Decreased By ▼ -0.93 (-7.82%)
KEL 4.85 Decreased By ▼ -0.19 (-3.77%)
KOSM 4.35 Decreased By ▼ -0.15 (-3.33%)
MLCF 38.25 Decreased By ▼ -0.68 (-1.75%)
OGDC 128.89 Decreased By ▼ -3.11 (-2.36%)
PAEL 25.51 Decreased By ▼ -0.24 (-0.93%)
PIBTL 6.36 Decreased By ▼ -0.21 (-3.2%)
PPL 117.50 Decreased By ▼ -2.05 (-1.71%)
PRL 25.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.30 (-1.15%)
PTC 13.74 Decreased By ▼ -0.32 (-2.28%)
SEARL 57.09 Decreased By ▼ -0.42 (-0.73%)
SNGP 64.99 Decreased By ▼ -1.11 (-1.68%)
SSGC 10.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.19 (-1.86%)
TELE 8.12 Decreased By ▼ -0.20 (-2.4%)
TPLP 10.35 Decreased By ▼ -0.21 (-1.99%)
TRG 65.24 Decreased By ▼ -2.91 (-4.27%)
UNITY 26.85 Decreased By ▼ -0.28 (-1.03%)
WTL 1.34 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.74%)
BR100 7,835 Decreased By -96.8 (-1.22%)
BR30 25,245 Decreased By -504.5 (-1.96%)
KSE100 74,667 Decreased By -908.6 (-1.2%)
KSE30 23,919 Decreased By -292.9 (-1.21%)

TOKYO: Japan's Nikkei edged down on Wednesday, confined to a tight range as investors awaited key testimony on the U.S. economy from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

The Nikkei share average ended the day down 0.15% at 21,533.48.

Markets are bracing for Powell's comments, in two days of  testimony before the U.S. Congress starting later on Wednesday, in which he may support or confound expectations for U.S. policy easing.

Global equities had advanced earlier this month on the prospect of the Fed easing monetary policy. But the markets have lost some momentum recently as the prospect of aggressive easing has faded after a stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs report.

"Investors are nervous as they wait to find out from Powell's comments on whether the Fed will continue cutting rates or not," said Yutaka Miura, a senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities.

Machinery shares languished after Japan Machine Tool Builders' Association said on Tuesday that June orders for machine tools tumbled 38% to 98.8 billion yen ($907.25 million), falling for the ninth consecutive month. Fanuc Corp slipped 2.1% and Yaskawa Electric dropped 1.5%, while Keyence Corp shed 0.7%.

Chiba Bank rallied 3.8% after the lender and Bank Of Yokohama said they were considering a business tie-up.

Concordia Financial Group, Bank of Yokohama's parent company, gained 1.2%.

Japan Post Insurance Co lost 5.1% following reports that it had double charged life insurance premiums to its customers.

Yoshinoya Holdings, which operates beef bowl fast food restaurants, surged 8.8% after it posted a net profit of 1.097 billion yen in the March-May period, compared with a net loss of 388 million yen in the previous year.

The broader Topix fell 0.23% to 1,571.32.

Declining shares outnumbered gainers 1,297 to 764

Copyright Reuters, 2019

Comments

Comments are closed.