Japan's Nikkei closes off 3-mth low, pressured by Wall Street weakness

Resonac Holdings

29/12/2022 06:36

TOKYO, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average
hit its lowest levels in nearly three months on Thursday,
dragged by Wall Street's weak performance, with heavy technology
stocks leading the declines.
    The Nikkei index  .N225  closed 0.93% lower but touched
25,953.92 at one point, its lowest since Oct. 3. The broader
Topix  .TOPX  fell 0.72% t 1,895.27.
    Wall Street's main indexes ended weaker overnight, with the
Nasdaq hitting a 2022 closing low, as investors grappled with
mixed economic data, rising COVID cases in China, and
geopolitical tensions heading into 2023.
     "With the absence of investors at home and abroad, there
was little support for the Japanese market that tracked U.S.
equities' weakness," said Shigetoshi Kamada, general manager at
the research department at Tachibana Securities.
    "Since the Bank of Japan (BOJ) tweaked its ultra-low rate
policy, the trend of Japanese shares changed. Until then, the
market was supported by the central bank's loose monetary
policy." 
         Technology heavyweights dragged the Nikkei lower, with
startup investor SoftBank Group  9984.T  down 1.6%, paring some
losses after falling as much as 2.4% to its lowest since Oct.
19.
  
        The largest percentage losses in the index were Japan
Tobacco Inc  2914.T  down 5.87%, followed by Showa Denko KK
 4004.T  losing 4.68% and Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd
 3099.T  down by 4.37%.
  
        There were 34 advancers on the Nikkei index against 182
decliners.
    The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's
main board  .TOPX  was 1.05 billion, compared to the average of
1.19 billion in the past 30 days. 
    All but two of the 33 industry sub-indexes fell, with oil
explorers  .IMING.T  leading the declines. 
 (Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
 ((junko.fujita@thomsonreuters.com;))