Tokyo stocks fell Wednesday for the fourth straight session, as pharma firms slipped after US President Donald Trump's repeated warnings that he would move to bring down high drug prices. Trump said on social media that he was working on a system to boost competition in the sector - a move that could dent drugmakers' profits.
Tokyo investors are cautious ahead of key US jobs data this week while an upward revision in Japanese GDP underwhelmed markets. Japan's economy expanded by a revised 0.3 percent in the last quarter of 2016, better than an initial 0.2 percent growth estimate but missing market expectations for a 0.4 percent rise.
"We have a lack of major reasons to trade, and Trump's tweet on the drug industry will affect pharmaceutical shares," Seiichi Miura, a strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, told Bloomberg News. "Overseas stock moves are limited, as are yen moves, and investors are waiting for US jobs data and the Fed meeting next week." Tokyo's Nikkei 225 fell 0.47 percent, or 90.12 points, to close at 19,254.03, while the Topix index of all first-section issues was down 0.31 percent, or 4.79 points, to end at 1,550.25.
Takeda Pharmaceutical shares fell 0.79 percent to 5,222 yen, while other drugmakers also dipped into negative territory. Daiichi Sankyo slipped 0.53 percent to 2,620.5 yen and Shionogi was down 0.28 percent to sit at 5,563 yen. Major automakers were down, with Toyota slipping 0.93 percent to 6,370 yen, while Nissan dipped 0.30 percent to 1,147 yen and Honda fell 0.56 percent to 3,537 yen.
Mobile carrier SoftBank fell 0.61 percent to to 8,426 yen, recovering some of its earlier losses after a report said it is set to sell an $8.0 billion stake in British iPhone chip designer ARM Holdings. Proceeds are reportedly to go into SoftBank's $100 billion Saudi-backed Vision investment fund. Market heavyweight Fast Retailing, which operates Uniqlo clothing stores, edged up 0.16 percent to 35,740 yen. On Asian currency markets, the dollar changed hands at 113.74 yen, off 113.95 yen in New York.
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