Tokyo stocks down

Tokyo stocks closed 0.59 percent lower Monday on profit-taking and a stronger yen, while auto parts maker Takata plunged nearly 17 percent on fears of a criminal probe linked to a deadly airbag defect. The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange eased 99.85 points to finish at 16,780.53, while the Topix index of all first-section shares was off 0.26 percent, or 3.56 points, at 1,360.11.
Traders took a breather after sending the market surging more than 10 percent over the past two weeks, helped by a weaker yen after the Bank of Japan boosted its monetary easing programme. "Given that a great deal of the market's gains over the last several days and months have come on the back of a stronger US currency, its weakness naturally invites profit-taking," said Nomura Securities equity market strategist Junichi Wako.
He added, however, that "a severe selloff is unlikely", partly because the Bank of Japan and government pension funds are known to be buying on the dip. The dollar slipped to 114.10 yen, from 114.62 yen in New York and sharply lower than the 115.39 yen in Tokyo earlier Friday. A strong yen is negative for Japanese exporters as it makes them less competitive abroad and erodes the yen value of their repatriated profits. Toyota fell 1.54 percent to 6,712.0 yen and Canon was off 0.56 percent at 3,534.0 yen but Sony bucked the trend, rising 3.80 percent to 2,344.0 yen.
Takata sank 16.87 percent to close at 1,177 yen as nervous investors reacted to US senators' call for a criminal investigation over its defective airbags. Shares in Takata, one of the world's biggest airbag makers, have lost more than half their value since the beginning of the year, with questions mounting over defects linked to at least four deaths in the US and dozens of injuries. The dollar weakened Friday after a mixed US jobs report did little to alter expectations of a change in the Federal Reserve's interest rate outlook.
On Friday, The US Labour Department said the world's number one economy added 214,000 jobs last month. While that figure was weaker than the forecasted 235,000, the previous two months' job gains were revised upward and the unemployment rate slipped to a six-year low.