Japan shares edge lower as U.S. futures fall

J. FRONT RETAILING

13/10/2020 04:17

TOKYO, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Japanese shares reversed course on
Tuesday to trade slightly lower as U.S. futures fell during
Asian trade, while investors looked past an overnight tech rally
on Wall Street and waited for corporate earnings results for
further direction.
    The benchmark Nikkei share average  .N225  slipped 0.14% to
23,525.95 by the midday break, with 84 advancers on the index
against 131 decliners. The broader Topix  .TOPX  lost 0.13% to
1,641.15.
    Nearly two-thirds of the 33 sector sub-indexes on the Tokyo
exchange traded lower, with miners  .IMING.T , oil and coal
products  .IPETE.T  and nonferrous metals  .INFRO.T  leading the
decline on the main bourse.
    Earlier in the session, both indexes tracked Wall Street
higher as a renewed tech rally and expectations of a coronavirus
relief package in the United States helped lift sentiment.
    But a near 0.5% drop in U.S. stock futures and a slightly
stronger yen against the U.S. dollar saw both indexes reversing
their course.
    Analysts said some investors were also in a wait-and-see
mode ahead of key earnings reports, including those of J.Front
Retailing Co  3086.T  and Takashimaya Co  8233.T  due later in
the day.
    SoftBank Group Corp  9984.T  fell 0.88% on profit-taking,
erasing early gains on news that the conglomerate's Vision Fund
was preparing to launch a blank-cheque acquisition company.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2H33XN
    Elsewhere, machinery stocks were supported by upbeat data
showing Japan's core machinery orders unexpectedly rose in
August. 
    Meanwhile, overseas orders, which are not included in core
orders, rose at the fastest pace since April 2014.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2H20AI
    Fanuc Corp  6954.T  climbed about 3%, while SMC Corp
 6273.T  rose 2.57%.
    The Mothers Index  .MTHR  of start-up firms fell 0.59% and
was set to snap six consecutive sessions of gains.

 (Reporting by Eimi Yamamitsu; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
 ((eimi.yamamitsu@thomsonreuters.com;))