Tokyo Stocks Open Lower

AFP/APP

Tokyo: Tokyo stocks opened lower on Friday, after Wall Street shares dropped following recent strong gains.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.70 percent, or 270.63 points, at 38,649.63 in early trade, while the broader Topix index slipped 0.39 percent, or 10.80 points, to 2,726.74.

“The Japanese market is expected to start with falls after US shares declined,” senior market analyst Toshiyuki Kanayama of Monex said.

“After a corporate earnings season passed, there are few market-moving factors,” Matsui Securities added.

The dollar fetched 155.40 yen in Asian trade, unchanged from levels in New York.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow finished down 0.1 percent at 39,869.38, after rising above 40,000 for the first time ever for hours.

The broad-based S&P 500 slipped 0.2 percent, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.3 percent.

In Tokyo, chip-making equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron was down 1.93 percent at 36,110 yen, shipbuilder Hitachi Zosen was down 1.93 percent at 1,118 yen, and Nikon was off 1.90 percent at 1,654.5 yen.

Honda was up 0.09 percent at 1,710 yen after the carmaker announced plans to double investment in electric vehicles to $65 billion by 2030.

Its bigger rival Toyota was up 1.19 percent at 3,392 yen, while Nissan was down 0.04 percent at 554.8 yen.