Tokyo stocks down at break as yen rises

TOKYO: Tokyo stocks fell Tuesday morning following losses on Wall Street while a rise in the yen hit exporters after a deadly subway explosion in Russia.

Eleven people were killed and dozens injured after the Saint Petersburg metro was rocked by a blast on Monday, with the Kremlin saying it bore "all the hallmarks of an attack".

The dollar dropped to 110.65 yen Tuesday from 110.91 yen in New York and well down from the mid-111 yen level seen in Tokyo earlier Monday. The yen is considered a safe bet in times of turmoil and uncertainty.

Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 0.40 percent, or 76.54 points, to 18,906.69 by the break, while the Topix index of all first-section issues was down 0.41 percent, or 6.29 points, at 1,510.74.

"We continue to have a situation where it's difficult to move, with investors waiting for corporate earnings from Japan and abroad," Seiichi Miura, a strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, told Bloomberg News.

"The strengthening of the yen will be negative for investors," he added.

Investors were also cautious ahead of a meeting this week between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

Other key events this week include the March US jobs report, and minutes from the most recent policy meetings of the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank.

Toshiba plunged 8.89 percent to 207.9 yen, extending Monday's 5.5 percent slump, following reports it may have to delay releasing its earnings for October-December for a third time. They were first due in mid-February.

The leading business daily Nikkei reported Tuesday that the postponement could come "amid apparent disagreements with a US auditor over an ongoing investigation into governance problems at subsidiary Westinghouse Electric."

The troubled conglomerate has delayed formally reporting its earnings owing to problems at US nuclear unit Westinghouse, which last month filed for bankruptcy.

Japanese financial regulators have given Toshiba until April 11 to publish results.

Carmakers retreated on the stronger yen and following a broadly disappointing reading on US auto sales for March.

Honda tumbled 2.50 percent to 3,267 yen while Toyota fell 1.05 percent to 5,982 yen.

Video game maker Nintendo dropped 1.96 percent to 26,230 yen and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial sank 1.71 percent to 682.4 yen.