Tokyo stocks lower

Tokyo stocks closed lower on Tuesday, with investor sentiment hit by Wall Street's plunge on fears of a US-China trade war. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index slipped 0.45 percent or 96.29 points to 21,292.29, while the broader Topix index was down 0.29 percent or 4.98 points at 1,703.80. Tokyo shares opened sharply lower following drops in US stocks as worries about a US-China trade war re-emerged, noted Makoto Sengoku, market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Institute.
But they trimmed early losses in afternoon trade. "The impact from the US market turned out not to be so bad as to incite terror here" thanks to lingering hopes that tensions may ease in the weeks to come, Sengoku said. The yen's strengthening also eased while drops on other Asian markets were limited, he told AFP.
Investors may also be looking for new shares to buy at the start in April of a new business year, he added. Wall Street stocks plunged Monday as weakness in technology shares sparked a broader sell-off amid rising fears of a trade war. Those anxieties were back in focus Monday after China slapped retaliatory tariffs on 128 US exports, including 25 percent on pork products and recycled aluminium.
The tech slump dented sentiment by clouding the long-term prospects of some of the market's biggest stars. Amazon sank 5.2 percent after a series of attacks by President Donald Trump in recent days in which he accused the retailer of profiteering at the expense of the US Postal Service. The dollar fell below 106 yen in New York on Monday but resisted further drops on Tuesday. The greenback was changing hands at 105.95 yen Tuesday afternoon against 106.29 yen a day earlier.
Nintendo tumbled 3.03 percent to 46,270 yen and Sony sank 0.44 percent to 5,150 yen. Japan's top e-commerce firm Rakuten fell 1.49 percent to 868.4 yen while mobile carrier and IT investor SoftBank Group fell 1.41 percent to 7,752 yen. Panasonic, the key battery supplier to Tesla, fell 1.28 percent to 1,494.5 yen after the US electric carmaker dropped 5.1 percent, amid scepticism it would again meet closely watched electric car production targets.