Tokyo
stocks ended lower Thursday as sentiment was hit by a sluggish performance on Wall Street overnight and slipping oil prices.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended down 108.65 points, or 0.64 percent, from Wednesday at 16,892.33. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange finished 9.59 points, or 0.70 percent, lower at 1,354.61.
Decliners were led by mining, marine transport and bank issues.
Tokyo
stocks opened lower after
U.S.
shares lost ground overnight on oil price falls.
The
U.S.
government's
Energy Information Administration said in a weekly report Wednesday that
U.S.
oil inventories jumped, exceeding a market consensus and raising concerns about a global supply glut.
Tokyo
shares turned higher toward the end of the morning session following the yen's weakening against the dollar, but they fell back into negative territory in the afternoon.
"Weak
U.S.
stocks and the retreat in oil prices are weighing on sentiment," said
Shoichiro Yamauchi, equity market strategist at
Nomura Securities Co.
But Yamauchi also added that volatility seen at the beginning of the year has declined and the
Tokyo
stock market is beginning to show a relatively solid performance.
"Expectations of policy support from the government and a consumption tax hike delay (to prevent a further economic slowdown) are underpinning sentiment," he said.
But Hiroaki Kuramochi, director of marketing and business development at brokerage firm Fujitomi Co., suggested the market is still not in the mood to embrace risk-taking.
"Concerns about global economic growth have not quite receded," he said adding that
Tokyo
shares are "likely to remain directionless" for the time being.
On the First Section, declining issues outnumbered advancing ones 1,258 to 597, while 93 ended the day unchanged.
Mitsui & Co. dived 105.50 yen, or 7.5 percent, to 1,299.50 yen after the trading company Wednesday downgraded its earnings estimate for the business year ending March 31, due to slumping prices of natural resources.
Mitsubishi Corp. plunged 81.50 yen, or 4.1 percent, to 1,920.00 yen on reports Thursday that the trading company in fiscal 2015 is likely to fall into the red for the first time since its establishment in 1954, due to tumbling energy and commodity prices.
Chiyoda fell 11 yen, or 1.2 percent, to 893 yen after the leading natural resources plant engineering company cut its earnings forecast Wednesday for the business year ending this month, citing an increase in construction costs and sliding oil prices.
Retreating oil prices took down resource-related names with Inpex skidding 46.10 yen, or 5.0 percent, to 875.70 yen and Japan Drilling sliding 69 yen, or 2.7 percent, to 2,445 yen.
Bucking the trend, Digital Arts climbed 113 yen, or 5.0 percent, to 2,363 yen after the company specializing in software security Wednesday raised its planned annual dividend for the year ending March 31 to 15 yen a share from 14 yen.
Trading volume on the main section rose to 2,001.03 million shares from Wednesday's 1,602.10 million shares.
==Kyodo
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