Tokyo shares end lower as rising virus cases cloud recovery hopes

SQUARE ENIX HOLDINGS

18/06/2020 07:58

TOKYO, June 18 (Reuters) - Japanese shares closed lower on
Thursday as increasing cases of the novel coronavirus across the
United States and China raised concerns about a swift recovery
in the global economy.
    The benchmark Nikkei average  .N225  fell 0.45% to
22,355.46, with 58 advancers against 161 decliners.
    While Beijing extended movement curbs to contain the spread
of COVID-19, the daily count of infections hit a new high in
California and Texas and Florida recorded its second-highest
daily increase.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2DU08O  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2DU1GV
    Higher U.S. infections also pushed the benchmark S&P index
 .SPX  0.3% lower on Wednesday.
    The broader Topix  .TOPX  fell by 0.25% to 1,583.09, with 24
of the 33 sector sub-indexes on the Tokyo exchange posting
declines. 
    The turnover on the main board was 2.009 trillion yen 
($18.79 billion), the lowest in almost a month and more than 10%
below the average over the past year. 
    The yen also firmed against the dollar, with the dollar
trading at 106.87 yen  JPY= , down 0.12% during the session,
hurting the earnings outlook for exporters.
    Highly cyclical airline, oil and coal products as well as
iron and steel led declines on the main bourse. 
    Airlines  .IAIRL.T , one of the sectors hardest hit by the
pandemic, ended down 1.70%, while oil and coal products
 .IPETE.T  fell 1.22%.
    Iron and steel  .ISTEL.T  shares fell 0.79% after U.S. Steel
 X.N  slumped 10% on Wednesday following its weak earnings
outlook for the current quarter. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nASA00U46
    Machinery manufacturer NTN Corp  6472.T  slipped 5.04% as
the company forecast a net loss of 43.9 billion yen for the year
ending in March.
    Bucking the trend, gaming company Nintendo  7974.T  rose
2.81% and hit a 12-year high on expectations of strong demand as
people stay home during the coronavirus outbreak.

($1 = 106.9000 yen)

 (Reporting by Eimi Yamamitsu; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel and
Uttaresh.V)
 ((eimi.yamamitsu@thomsonreuters.com;))