Tokyo stocks ended flat, shaving off just 0.01 percent Monday as investors locked in profits after a recent string of gains pushed the market to 15-year highs. The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange, which closed slightly down on Friday after hitting 20,000 for the first time since 2000, edged down 2.17 points to 19,905.46. The Topix index of all first-section issues fell 0.21 percent, or 3.28 points, to 1,586.26.
"Pressure (to take profits) is strong after (the Nikkei) topped the major level of 20,000," Okasan Online Securities said in a note. Profit-taking sent stocks lower but heavyweights Fast Retailing and SoftBank helped prop up the Nikkei, it said.
SoftBank rose 1.96 percent to 7,353.0 yen on speculation that Indian e-commerce company Snapdeal is preparing for a US listing. The Japanese provider of mobile and Internet services is the biggest shareholder in the firm after investing $627 million in it last year.
Fast Retailing, the operator of Uniqlo fashion brand, gained 0.90 percent to 50,150.0 yen. Automakers were down, with Toyota falling 0.93 percent to 8,248.0 yen and Honda tumbling 2.54 percent to 4,065.5 yen.
The dollar was at 120.36 yen Monday after trading at 120.30 yen in New York late Friday. In New York the Dow rose 0.55 percent after General Electric said it would sell $26.5 billion in real estate assets as part of a plan to pare off most of its GE Capital unit over the next 24 months. That came at the end of a week that also saw major mergers including Royal Dutch Shell and FedEx.
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