Japanese shares touch one-month low on renewed coronavirus fears
29/10/2020 02:18
By Stanley White
TOKYO, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Japanese shares fell to a
one-month low on Thursday as the return of coronavirus lockdowns
in France and Germany put a damper on investor sentiment only
days before the U.S. presidential election.
The Nikkei 225 Index .N225 fell 0.74% to 23,245.98 by 0144
GMT. The Nikkei earlier touched its lowest level since Oct. 2.
The broader Topix .TOPX was down 0.48% at 1,604.84.
Japanese shares took the lead from a sharp fall in U.S. and
European stocks after France and Germany, Europe's two-largest
economies, were forced back into lockdown to contain a second
wave of coronavirus infections. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2HJ0QL
Some investors were also reluctant to buy equities and other
risky assets due to uncertainty about the Nov. 3 election in the
United States.
However, declines in Tokyo shares were limited as some
individual companies rose due to an improving earnings outlook.
The underperformers among the Topix 30 were Shin-Etsu
Chemical Co Ltd 4063.T and job placement company Recruit
Holdings Co Ltd 6098.T , which fell about 2% each.
The stocks that gained the most among the top 30 core Topix
names were consumer electronics maker Sony Corp 6758.T up
6.38%, followed by industrial conglomerate Hitachi Ltd 6501.T
gaining 2.9%.
Both Sony and Hitachi rose after raising their earnings
forecasts, which suggests Japanese companies are likely to
weather another dip in global economic activity, analysts said.
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2HJ09V urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nXB1TTP32Q
There were 51 advancers on the Nikkei index against 170
decliners.
The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's
main board .TOPX was 0.39 billion, compared to the average of
1.05 billion in the past 30 days.
(Reporting by Stanley White; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel)
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