Markets

Tokyo shares fall 0.40pc by noon

TOKYO : Tokyo shares lost 0.40 percent Wednesday morning on a strong yen versus the dollar and after Wall Street lost

Published June 8, 2011 Updated June 8, 2011 05:48am

2 min

By Shoaib Ur Rehman

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The benchmark Nikkei index fell 38.24 points to 9,404.71 by the break after rebounding on dip-buying the previous day. The Topix index of all first-section issues gained 0.36 percent or 2.89 points to 810.87.

"It is difficult to buy amid uncertainty over the outlook of the overseas economies and the yen's direction," Cosmo Securities strategist Toshikazu Horiuchi told Dow Jones Newswires.

Shares slipped for the fifth straight session in New York Tuesday after Bernanke said that the weak housing sector was holding back the recovery and that job creation was in a "far from normal" slump.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 19.15 points, or 0.16 percent.

The dollar hit a fresh one-month low of 79.84 yen in early Tokyo trading following Bernanke's remarks, against 80.05 yen in New York late Tuesday.

Utilities were lower following a Nikkei business daily report that Japan's nuclear reactors shut down for routine inspections may stay offline as companies struggle to convince communities that nuclear power is safe.

"While this is not news, it's reinforcing market fears that rising fuel costs may force most utilities to halt dividends for the foreseeable future," said Takuya Yamada, senior portfolio manager at ITC Investment Partners.

Shares of embattled Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) were down 6.48 percent at 202 after hitting a new all-time low of 199 yen. Chubu Electric power sagged 2.60 percent to 1,122 yen.

Nintendo tumbled 6.24 percent to 16,830 yen after the Japanese videogame titan on Tuesday unveiled its second-generation Wii console.

Analysts said the Wii U featured no new "landmark" features and offered no surprises despite offering a console with a controller featuring a touchscreen and camera.

"There is no positive surprise from an investor's perspective," says Hiroaki Osakabe, a fund manager at Chibagin Asset Management.

Shortly before the opening bell, official data showed that Japan's current account surplus fell a smaller-than-expected 69.5 percent from a year earlier in April as the March earthquake and tsunami badly hampered factory production.

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