Tokyo stocks closed 0.25 percent lower Tuesday as a pick-up in the yen against the dollar offset another record close for the Dow on Wall Street. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 37.74 points to finish at 15,126.56. Tuesday's losses also come after the index racked up gains of 7.7 percent over the past week. The Topix index of all first-section shares was down 0.39 percent, or 4.81 points, at 1,236.86.
The dollar lost ground against the yen, buying 99.80 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade, down from 99.93 yen Monday in New York. The US unit touched 100.40 yen in Tokyo Monday before suffering a sell-off. "It is no surprise to see profit-taking following a surge last week," said Toshikazu Horiuchi, a broker at IwaiCosmo Securities.
"Considering last week's jump, today's decline was relatively small," Horiuchi said. "Market sentiment is not bad. I would say there is a chance of seeing another boost for the rest of the week." Fukushima operator Tokyo Electric Power was down 1.61 percent at 548 yen as the utility entered the second day of crucial work to remove nuclear fuel rods from a pool inside the crippled plant.
Chipmaker Tokyo Electron fell 3.62 percent to 5,310 yen while auto giant Honda was off 1.08 percent at 4,095 yen. Sony rose 1.28 percent to 1,886 yen following a report that the electronics giant has hired advisors to help it find about $100 million in savings at its entertainment division.
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