Tokyo shares ended slightly lower on Tuesday as tepid data and profit-taking from the previous day's sharp jump offset a weaker yen and a rally on Wall Street. Federal Reserve boss Janet Yellen said on Friday the case for an interest rate hike in the world's top economy had strengthened, sending the greenback soaring against the yen, and boosting Japanese exporters. But Tuesday's session started with losses as official data showed spending by households across Japan slipped 0.5 percent in July from a year earlier, a fifth-straight fall.
Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index was marginally lower, dipping 12.13 points to 16,725.36, after surging 2.3 percent on Monday. The broader Topix index of all first-section shares was also flat, dipping 0.43 points to 1,312.81. Exporters benefited as the dollar rose to 102.23 yen from 101.88 yen Monday.
"There's a profit-taking mood in the Japanese stock market after the surge yesterday," Seiichi Miura, a strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, told Bloomberg News. Toyota advanced 0.63 percent to 6,186 yen and Honda also climbed 0.63 percent to 3,156 yen but Sony fell 0.62 percent to 3,326 yen and factory robot maker Fanuc was down 0.87 percent at 17,065 yen. Petroleum-linked stocks rose after oil prices pushed up, with energy explorer Inpex up 0.43 percent at 876.4 yen and refiner JX Holdings 0.98 percent higher at 378.5 yen.