Tokyo stocks closed lower on Wednesday on profit-taking, snapping a three-day winning streak amid lingering anxiety over the US-China trade war. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 0.35 percent or 74.56 points to end at 21,129.72, while the broader Topix index was down 0.45 percent or 7.10 points at 1,554.22. Investors are wary about the Japanese economy's prospects and worried about external factors such as the US-China trade war, Hiroaki Hiwata, strategist at Toyo Securities, told AFP.
Speaking to the media about China, US President Donald Trump said: "It's me right now that's holding up the deal," adding that "we're going to either do a great deal with China or we're not going to do a deal at all." Falls on Wall Street also prompted Tokyo investors to sell on profit-taking, analysts said. The dollar fetched 108.33 yen in Asian trade, against 108.51 yen in New York.
In Tokyo, SoftBank Group dropped 2.40 percent to 9,960 yen after a group of US state governments filed a lawsuit to block the proposed $26 billion merger between Sprint, majority owned by SoftBank, and T-Mobile, saying the deal would harm consumers.
Nintendo fell 3.53 percent to 37,980 yen after the game giant postponed the release of popular game. Shipping firms were among the losers, with Mitsui O.S.K. Lines trading down 0.53 percent at 2,420 yen and Nippon Yusen down 0.42 percent at 1,646 yen.