Nikkei slips from over 30-year high, but posts gains for 2020
30/12/2020 06:43
TOKYO, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average ended
lower on the last trading day of the year, retreating from a
more than three-decade high hit in the previous session as
investors booked profits, but it logged gains for a second
straight year.
The benchmark Nikkei share average .N225 fell 0.45% to
27,444.17 on Wednesday, after closing at its highest level since
Aug. 16, 1990 in the previous session.
The broader Topix .TOPX slipped 0.8% to 1,804.68, pulling
back from its highest level since October 2018 reached on
Tuesday.
On the year, the Nikkei was up 16% compared to an 18.2% gain
in 2019. It rose nearly 18.4% in the quarter, marking the
biggest quarterly gain since the three months ended March 2013.
The Topix was nearly 4.8% higher in 2020 after climbing more
than 15.2% in the previous year.
Japanese financial markets will be closed from Thursday and
reopen on Monday, Jan. 4.
"Not a lot of investors would be willing to force themselves
to make year-end positions, especially a day after many market
players made large purchases," a market participant said.
Market sentiment was also hit by overnight losses on Wall
Street as doubts re-emerged about whether the U.S. Senate would
authorise additional pandemic aid cheques.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell delayed vote on
President Donald Trump's call to increase pandemic relief
payments to $2,000. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2J90H3
All but four of the 33 sector sub-indexes on the Tokyo
exchange traded lower.
The top underperformers among the Topix 30 were Honda Motor
7267.T and Shin-Etsu Chemical 4063.T , losing 1.78% and
1.66%, respectively.
Seiko Epson Corp 6724.T , Mitsui E&S Holdings 7003.T and
Sapporo Holdings 2501.T were the biggest percentage losers in
the index, down between 3.26% and 3.89%.
Renewable energy developer Renova 9519.T rose 4.9% to
reach its record high, benefiting from investors' growing
expectations for clean energy.
The Mothers Index .MTHR of start-up firms added 0.37%,
ending with the biggest yearly gain since 2013.
(Reporting by Eimi Yamamitsu and Tokyo markets team;
Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)
((eimi.yamamitsu@thomsonreuters.com;))