Tokyo shares closed lower on Friday, tracking falls on Wall Street as worries mounted over Ukraine, while the latest business confidence data also weighed on sentiment.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 0.56 percent, or 155.45 points, to 27,665.98, while the broader TOPIX lost 0.11 percent, or 2.13 points, to close at 1,944.27.
“The Nikkei started with losses after falls in the three main US indices, while the Bank of Japan’s Tankan survey ... also discouraged investors,” although some began bargain-hunting later in the session, Okasan Online Securities said.
The Tankan survey, a quarterly poll of about 10,000 companies released before the opening bell, showed business confidence weakened among Japan’s major manufacturers for the first time in nearly two years.
Sony Group dropped 1.57 percent to ￥12,530, Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing fell 1.14 percent to ￥62,270 and investment giant SoftBank Group recovered early losses to end up 0.34 percent at ￥5,578.
Toshiba jumped 6.45 percent to ￥4,950 after local media reported that US equity firm Bain Capital is preparing a buyout offer for the Japanese conglomerate.
However, Toshiba said in a statement that it was not involved in discussions on a buyout.
Shipping firms were among losers, with Nippon Yusen diving 6.88 percent to ￥10,020 and Mitsui OSK Lines down 4.97 percent at ￥3,250.
In Taipei, the TAIEX closed down 67.88 points, or 0.38 percent, at 17,625.59 after moving between 17,465.61 and 17,657.76. It was down 0.3 percent from a week earlier.
South Korea’s KOSPI fell 0.6 percent, while stocks in Shanghai rose 0.9 percent.
Rising COVID-19 cases in China are adding to the worries of a regional slowdown.
The Shanghai Composite jumped 0.9 percent to 3,282.72.
A lockdown in Shanghai entered its second phase of extended restrictions, although restrictions were lifted in Jilin Province, where several cities have been badly affected.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.2 percent to 22,039.55.
Additional reporting by staff writer and AFP
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
Popular vape brands such as Geek Bar might get more expensive in the US — if you can find them at all. Shipments of vapes from China to the US ground to a near halt last month from a year ago, official data showed, hit by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a crackdown on unauthorized e-cigarettes in the world’s biggest market for smoking alternatives. That includes Geek Bar, a brand of flavored vapes that is not authorized to sell in the US, but which had been widely available due to porous import controls. One retailer, who asked not to be named, because
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
STILL LOADED: Last year’s richest person, Quanta Computer Inc chairman Barry Lam, dropped to second place despite an 8 percent increase in his wealth to US$12.6 billion Staff writer, with CNA Daniel Tsai (蔡明忠) and Richard Tsai (蔡明興), the brothers who run Fubon Group (富邦集團), topped the Forbes list of Taiwan’s 50 richest people this year, released on Wednesday in New York. The magazine said that a stronger New Taiwan dollar pushed the combined wealth of Taiwan’s 50 richest people up 13 percent, from US$174 billion to US$197 billion, with 36 of the people on the list seeing their wealth increase. That came as Taiwan’s economy grew 4.6 percent last year, its fastest pace in three years, driven by the strong performance of the semiconductor industry, the magazine said. The Tsai
RSS