Tokyo stocks fall after Trump speech

Tokyo shares fell Monday with exporters hit by a stronger yen after Donald Trump kicked off his presidency saying he would put American business first, while Takata plunged on fears of a lengthy bankruptcy restructuring. After being sworn in as the 45th president of the United States on Friday, Trump promised to build infrastructure and boost employment, aspects of his agenda the market likes.
But he also adopted a harsh anti-establishment tone throughout his speech, suggesting a tough line on trade that has worried economists.
He again supplied few concrete details on his plans to ramp up the world's top economy but on Sunday vowed to start renegotiating the North American Free-Trade Agreement during upcoming talks with Mexico and Canada.
"If the market starts to focus more on concerns over Trump's protectionist aspects, the yen is likely to temporarily shift toward strength," Shoji Hirakawa, chief global strategist at Tokai Tokyo Research Institute, told Bloomberg News.
In Tokyo, the dollar was at 113.35 yen, sharply down from 114.60 yen in New York late Friday.
A strong yen is a negative for shares of Japanese exporters because it makes their products less competitive abroad and reduces profits when repatriated.
The benchmark Nikkei stock index lost 1.29 percent, or 246.88 points, to close at 18,891.03, while the broader Topix index of all first-section issues lost 1.23 percent, or 18.83 points, to finish at 1,514.63.
Sony fell 1.15 percent to 3,432 yen and Toyota was off 1.63 percent at 6,690 yen.
Toshiba jumped 8.99 percent to 268.9 yen after Japan's Kyodo News agency reported that camera and copier giant Canon was mulling an investment in the troubled conglomerate's chip business.
Toshiba plunged last week on worries about multi-billion-dollar losses in its US nuclear unit.
Sharp climbed 2.69 percent to 305 yen after its parent company, Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn, confirmed Sunday it is considering a $7.0 billion investment to make flat panels in the United States. Sharp is a major player in that market.
Takata dived nearly 18 percent on fears of a drawn-out bankruptcy restructuring for the airbag maker at the centre of the biggest-ever auto safety recall.
The embattled stock, which has lost more than half its market value in a week, fell by its daily limit to close at 467 yen, extending a losing streak to a sixth session.
The drop is linked to reports that two rival suitors will propose bankruptcy restructuring for the airbag maker at the centre of the auto industry's biggest safety recall.