Nikkei hits three-week low

Japan's Nikkei average fell to a three-week closing low on Wednesday as investors remained cautious ahead of a serious of key events this week, including policy meetings by the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan and US jobs data.
But losses were capped by gains in index heavyweight Fast Retailing Co Ltd, which climbed 3.7 percent after the Nikkei daily said the operator of casual clothing chain Uniqlo should see sales top 1 trillion yen ($12.8 billion) in the year ending August 2013, up 7.6 percent from its estimate of 929.50 billion yen in the last financial year.
The Nikkei slipped 0.5 percent to 8,746.87 points in relatively light volume, down for the fourth straight session, its longest losing run since early September. "We have a few data points this week ... People are a bit wary," a senior dealer at a foreign bank said. Nissan Motor Co dropped 2.1 percent after its US passenger car sales fell 1.1 percent in September from the same month last year.
Rival Toyota Motor Corp saw a 41.5 percent jump year-on-year over the same period, leaving its share price up 0.4 percent. "The poor performance by Nissan, however, combined with the significantly higher risk now in China, may lead to worse-than-expected profitability this term," Societe Generale said in a note. But of the big three Japanese automakers, Nissan offers the cheapest valuation, with a 12-month forward price-to-earnings ratio of 6.3 versus Toyota's 9.7 and Honda Motor Co's 7.8, according to Thomson Reuters Datastream.
Both the ECB and the BoJ were due to start policy meetings on Thursday, with some market participants expecting the Japanese central bank to offer further monetary policy easing. The Nikkei China 50, comprised of Japanese firms with heavy exposure to the world's second-largest economy, lost 0.7 percent, underperforming the benchmark Nikkei. SmartEstimates from Thomson Reuters StarMine expects an average negative earnings surprise of 1.2 percent for this quarterly results reporting period, which will kick into high gear in two to three weeks.
The broader Topix index eased 0.5 percent to 727.39, with nearly 1.4 billion shares changing hands, up from Tuesday's 1.36 billion but down from last week's average of 1.6 billion. Supermarket chain operator Uny Co Ltd slumped 11.2 percent after it cut its operating profit forecast for the year ending February 20, with its second-quarter figures coming in below market expectations.