AGL 40.00 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
AIRLINK 127.04 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
BOP 6.67 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
CNERGY 4.51 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
DCL 8.55 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
DFML 41.44 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
DGKC 86.85 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
FCCL 32.28 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
FFBL 64.80 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
FFL 10.25 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
HUBC 109.57 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
HUMNL 14.68 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
KEL 5.05 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
KOSM 7.46 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
MLCF 41.38 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
NBP 60.41 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
OGDC 190.10 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
PAEL 27.83 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
PIBTL 7.83 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
PPL 150.06 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
PRL 26.88 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
PTC 16.07 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
SEARL 86.00 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
TELE 7.71 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
TOMCL 35.41 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
TPLP 8.12 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
TREET 16.41 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
TRG 53.29 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
UNITY 26.16 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
WTL 1.26 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
BR100 10,010 Increased By 126.5 (1.28%)
BR30 31,023 Increased By 422.5 (1.38%)
KSE100 94,192 Increased By 836.5 (0.9%)
KSE30 29,201 Increased By 270.2 (0.93%)

TOKYO: Japanese stocks fell on Monday as concerns about upcoming corporate earnings reports prompted some investors to take profits, with industrial and consumer discretionary sectors leading the decline.

The Nikkei index ended down 0.26% at 23,558.69, while the broader TOPIX fell 0.24% to 1,643.35.

Shares of Yaskawa Electric Corp were the biggest decliner on the Nikkei, sinking 5.43% after the industrial robot maker said on Friday it expects its dividend payments to fall by around half.

The second-biggest decliner in the Nikkei was engineering conglomerate JGC Holdings Corp losing 4.27%, followed by Citizen Watch Co Ltd down by 3.94%.

The largest percentage gainers in the index were healthcare services provider M3 Inc up 2.91%, followed by airline ANA Holdings Inc gaining 2.65%, and equity investor SoftBank Group Corp up by 2.64%

There were 59 advancers on the Nikkei index against 162 decliners.

Data earlier on Monday showed Japan's core machinery orders - a leading indicator of capital expenditure - unexpectedly rose in August in a positive sign for the economy, but this did not help Japanese stocks.

The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's main board was 0.73 billion, compared with the average of 1.16 billion in the past 30 days.

Analysts said the news also weighed on broader sentiment, with investors also reluctant to buy stocks due to uncertainty about the US presidential election on Nov. 3 and how that will affect economic policy.

"Yaskawa released their earnings early, and what they've done with their dividend puts a spotlight on whether other companies will follow suit," said Norihiro Fujito, chief investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.

"The Nikkei is already at a very high level, so investors are easily tempted to take profits."

Comments

Comments are closed.