Tokyo
stocks fell Tuesday amid a renewed slide in oil prices and the yen's appreciation that sapped export-oriented issues.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended down 114.55 points, or 0.64 percent, from Monday at 17,750.68. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange finished 10.63 points, or 0.73 percent, lower at 1,452.04.
Decliners were led by iron and steel, mining and nonferrous metals issues.
Tokyo
stocks mostly remained in correction territory throughout the day as crude oil futures fell back overnight and the yen's gains against the
U.S.
dollar hurt exporter shares.
As the morning session came to a close, shares edged up on the strength of
Shanghai
stocks, ending nearly flat, but later turned around.
"Sliding oil prices and the yen's appreciation are grabbing investors' attention," said Chihiro Ota, general manager of investment research at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc.
Crude futures slipped Monday in
New York
, dipping to
$31.62 per barrel, amid renewed oversupply concerns after rising for four consecutive sessions.
Ota said some investors also locked in the Nikkei's gains through Monday.
Takuya Takahashi, senior strategist at Daiwa Securities Co., said, however, that the Bank of Japan's surprise move last week continued to have an impact on the market, underpinning
Tokyo
stocks.
The BOJ stunned investors Friday by announcing it would adopt a negative interest rate in an effort to spur economic growth.
"The negative interest rate is a positive factor for
Tokyo
stocks," Takahashi said, adding investors will be closely watching if the
BOJ's fresh measure can really bring about a major shift in
Japan's
growth. "Hopefully cash will leave the central bank and flow into the private sector," he said.
On the First Section, declining issues outnumbered advancing issues 1,246 to 606, while 83 ended the day unchanged.
Hitachi Zosen dropped 26 yen, or 4.2 percent, to 588 yen after the shipbuilder reported Monday a 5.9 billion yen ($49 million) net loss for the nine months through December, citing the slowdown in
China
.
The slide in oil prices dragged down resource-related issues.
Inpex plunged 52.00 yen, or 4.9 percent, to 1,000.50 yen while JX Holdings dived 16.00 yen, or 3.5 percent, to 442.50 yen and Cosmo Energy Holdings plummeted 70 yen, or 5.2 percent, to 1,268 yen.
The yen's appreciation, which sent the dollar to the mid-120 yen range, weighed on exporter shares with Mazda Motor plunging 99.50 yen, or 4.4 percent, to 2,139.50 yen.
Bucking the trend, Tokyo Gas rose 12.00 yen, or 2.1 percent, to 573.20 yen after the company said Monday it will further cut electricity prices.
Trading volume on the main section fell to 2,771.48 million shares from Monday's 3,502.48 million shares.
==Kyodo
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