Japan shares inch lower on Brexit, U.S. stimulus worries

Taiyo Yuden

10/12/2020 03:30

By Stanley White
    TOKYO, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Japan shares edged lower on
Thursday, with the Nikkei pulling back from a 29-1/2-year high
hit in the previous session, as the Brexit impasse and political
wrangling over U.S. stimulus weighed on investor sentiment
globally.
    The benchmark Nikkei share average  .N225  fell 0.33% to
26,728.97, declining for a fourth session in five. The broader
Topix  .TOPX  eased 0.12% to 1,777.21.
    U.S. lawmakers approved a stopgap government funding bill on
Wednesday, but were unable to sort out disagreements over aid to
state and local governments that is holding up a broader
spending package.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2IP1JH
    Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the
European Union's chief executive gave themselves until the end
of the weekend to seal a new trade pact.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2IP1BD
    "There are a lot of events in Europe that are encouraging
investors to take some profits off the table," said Ayako Sera,
a market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank.
    "The market has already risen so much that there may not be
much room to rise further from here."
    Among the Topix 30 underperformers, Daikin Industries Ltd
 6367.T  fell 3.46% while Murata Manufacturing Co Ltd  6981.T 
lost 2.58%.
    The stocks that gained the most among the top 30 core Topix
names were SoftBank Group Corp  9984.T , up 6.62%, followed by
Seven & i Holdings Co Ltd  3382.T  climbing 1.86%. 
    SoftBank was in the spotlight after it scored a $11.2
billion gain in the value of its stake in DoorDash Inc  DASH.N 
following the U.S. food delivery app's blockbuster stock market
debut on Wednesday.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2IP367
    There were 114 advancers on the Nikkei index against 100
decliners.
    The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's
main board  .TOPX  was 0.54 billion, compared to the average of
1.34 billion in the past 30 days.

 (Reporting by Stanley White; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
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