The Nikkei average dipped 0.2 percent on Wednesday, led lower by exporters like Honda Motor Co Ltd amid concerns about the global economic outlook while property shares dropped after the collapse of another builder. The market's fall was cushioned by gains in drugmakers like Eisai Co Ltd which attracted investors looking for stocks considered less vulnerable to an economic downturn.
Energy shares such as oil and gas explorer Inpex Holdings Inc also climbed on a rise in oil prices. Throughout the day, market moves were stuck within a narrow range as investors lacked cues. "It's hard to find a direction. In the absence of market moving factors and given the thin trade, the market has been pulled down by gravity," said Kenichi Hirano, operating officer at Tachibana Securities.
Trade continued to be very light, hitting a new year low with 1.3 billion shares changing hands on the Tokyo stock exchange's first section, compared with last week's daily average of 1.59 billion. "Investors have ample reasons to sit still, including the credit crisis and rising tensions over Georgia," said Masatoshi Sato, senior strategist at Mizuho Investors Securities, referring to Russia's conflict with ex-Soviet country, which has angered the United States and its western allies.
"I think the decline in trade volume is also partly attributable to the global credit tightening. Market players are not able to take advantage of leveraging and move money around as freely as they used to," he said.
Honda ended down 2.2 percent at 3,530 yen and Toyota Motor Corp shed 2.7 percent to 4,770 yen, both among the biggest drags on the Nikkei. With trade on the main board subdued, some short-term traders shifted their money to markets for start-ups. The Tokyo bourse's Mothers section ended up 2.9 percent at 459.55, led by Internet software company Access Co Ltd.
Sohken Homes Co filed for court protection from creditors with 33.8 billion yen ($308 million) in debt. It was the latest in a string of collapses in the property and construction sectors and weighed on sentiment. Among other property stocks, Suncity Co Ltd ended down 12 percent at 3,670 yen and Touei Housing plunged 9.1 percent to 259 yen.
Sohken finished down by its daily limit or 12.4 percent at 14,100 yen. Energy shares gained after US crude oil futures ended higher for a second day in a row on concerns that a storm could disrupt US oil and natural gas installations in the Gulf of Mexico.
Inpex climbed 1.2 percent to 1.14 million yen. Trading house Mitsui & Co gained 2 percent to 1,794 yen. Eisai jumped 4 percent to 4,170 yen and rival drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd gained 2 percent to 5,750 yen, becoming the top two contributors to the Nikkei. Declining shares beat advancing ones by more than two to one.