Japanese shares fall ahead of holidays, US FOMC meet

TOKYO: Japanese shares reversed course to trade lower on Monday, after Wall Street fell sharply last week, while investors were cautious ahead of a series of public holidays and a meeting of the US Federal Open Market Committee.

The Nikkei share average fell 0.53% to 26,704.60 by the midday break, after opening higher. The broader Topix also cut its gains to fall 0.48% to 1,890.50. “The dramatic losses on Wall Street last week dragged down investor sentiment.

Also there is an FOMC meeting during Japan’s three-day holiday which starts tomorrow,“ said Shoichi Arisawa, general manager of the investment research department at IwaiCosmo Securities.

Wall Street slid on Friday to its deepest daily losses since 2020, as Amazon slumped following a gloomy quarterly report, and as the biggest surge in monthly inflation since 2005 spooked investors already worried about rising interest rates.

“Even after the series of public holidays, there will be some important economic data coming from the US That makes it hard for investors to make active bets.” Japanese market will be closed from Tuesday to Thursday for public holidays known as the Golden Week.

Japanese shares track Wall Street weakness, heavyweights drop

Chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron was the biggest drag on the Nikkei, losing 1.8%, followed by chip-testing equipment maker Advantest, which fell 4.67%. Robot maker Fanuc lost 3.07%.

IwaiCosmo’s Arisawa said investors were scooping up stocks that reported positive earnings, which helped limit market decline.

Murata Manufacturing jumped 4.82% and computer maker Fujitsu rose 3.99% after they reported robust earnings and announced share buybacks.

Technology conglomerate Hitachi rose 5.48% after US private equity company KKR agreed to buy the company’s logistics arm in a $5.2-billion deal.

There were 88 advancers on the Nikkei index against 134 decliners.

The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s main board was 0.64 billion, compared to the average of 1.24 billion in the past 30 days.