Japan's Nikkei snaps six-day winning streak

Toho Co (Tokyo)

16/01/2024 06:54

(Updates with closing levels)
    By Brigid Riley
       TOKYO, Jan 16 (Reuters) - 
    Japan's Nikkei share average slipped on Tuesday, snapping a
six-day winning streak that pushed the index to 34-year highs.
  
    The Nikkei  .N225  fell 0.79% at 35,619.18, with only 47
stocks rising against 178 decliners.
    The broader Topix  .TOPX  declined 0.82% to 2,503.98.
    The Nikkei briefly surged to 36,008.23 the previous day, a
level not seen since February 1990, but failed to hold onto it,
closing at 35,901.73.
        The market was hitting irrational levels, said Kyle
Rodda, senior financial market analyst at Capital.com.
  
        "With technicals this overbought, we are due for a
correction."
  
        The Nikkei volatility index  .JNIV  eased to 21.2.
  
    After the close on Monday, the market saw the first release
of a list of companies that had complied with the Tokyo Stock
Exchange's call to disclose plans to improve capital efficiency.
    Nearly half of the companies on the prime section have
responded, the bourse said, although some of Japan's most
influential companies such as Toyota Motor  7203.T  and SoftBank
Group  9984.T  were absent from the list.
    Their company shares seemed little affected on Tuesday, with
SoftBank Group down 0.73% and Toyota Motor shares falling 0.23%.
    Meanwhile, online gaming firm Nexon  3659.T , entertainment
production company Toho  9602.T  and Dai Nippon Printing
 7912.T  were the highest percentage losers on the Nikkei, down
4.73%, 3.81% and 3.47%, respectively.
        "I will be careful on this market," said Herald van der
Linde, chief Asia equity strategist at HSBC, referring to
Japan's stock market. 
  
        "Everybody is well positioned for it, everybody's bought
into it... So it might be that a lot of the good news is now
priced in."
  
         Of the 33 industry groups on the Topix, only five
advanced, with shippers  .ISHIP.T  at the top with gains of
2.26%.
  

 (Reporting by Brigid Riley; Additional reporting by Ankur
Banerjee; Editing by Varun H K and Sohini Goswami)
 ((brigid.riley@thomsonreuters.com;))