Japan stocks fall as U.S. stimulus hopes fade, yen firms

Keyence

15/10/2020 03:27

By Stanley White
    TOKYO, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Japanese stocks fell on Thursday
as fading hopes for a new round of U.S. fiscal stimulus hit
sentiment, while a stronger yen weighed on exporters. 
    The Nikkei index  .N225  fell 0.38% to 23,537.52 by 0204
GMT, with the telecommunications and healthcare sectors leading
the decline. The broader Topix  .TOPX  fell 0.39% to 1,637.44.
    U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said reaching a
compromise with the Democrats on a fiscal stimulus was unlikely
before elections on Nov. 3, raising concerns about the economic
outlook for an economy reeling from the impact of the COVID-19
pandemic.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2H5142
    Stocks in Japan also weakened as the yen  JPY=D3  edged
higher against the dollar, which tends to reduce overseas
earnings for the country's exporters.
    The biggest underperformers among the top 30 core Topix
names were venture capitalist SoftBank Group Corp  9984.T  down
1.95%, followed by electronic parts maker Keyence Corp  6861.T 
losing 1.63%.
    The stocks that gained the most among the Topix 30 were
insurer Tokio Marine Holdings Inc  8766.T  up 1.05%, followed by
electronic parts maker Murata Manufacturing Co Ltd  6981.T 
rising 1.28%.
    There were 115 advancers on the Nikkei index against 102
decliners.
    The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's
main board  .TOPX  was 0.33 billion, compared with the average
of 1.11 billion in the past 30 days.

 (Reporting by Stanley White; Editing by Aditya Soni)
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