Tokyo stock market registers lower share prices after US falls

• The Tokyo stock market began lower on Thursday, following Wall Street’s overnight decline.
• The benchmark Nikkei 225 index declined 0.04 percent, or 10.39 points, to 26,386.44.
• Japan’s finance minister and central bank governor are in Washington for G20 summit.

The Tokyo stock market began lower on Thursday, following Wall Street’s overnight decline ahead of the release of US inflation data.

In early trading, the benchmark Nikkei 225 index declined 0.04 percent, or 10.39 points, to 26,386.44, while the wider Topix index declined 0.21 percent, or 3.95 points, to 1,865.05.

In anticipation of the release of the US Consumer Price Index data later in the day, global investors have largely remained on the sidelines.

As investors anticipated the data, Wall Street ended slightly down, with the Dow and Nasdaq both losing 0.1%.

“The Tokyo market is expected to stay in a narrow range in the morning after US markets edged down slightly,” brokerage Monex said, adding that “a wait-and-see attitude is likely to dominate the day ahead of the US CPI.”

The markets are more likely to move after the release of the data, according to National Australia Bank’s Ray Attrill.

“US September CPI data looms large and should have major bearing on rates, risk sentiment and forex between their release and the weekend,” he said.

Investors were also keeping an eye on the weakening yen, which stood at approximately 146.72 to the dollar — levels that prompted Japan’s finance government to intervene last month in an effort to stabilize the currency.

Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki and Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda are in Washington for G20 finance and central bank summit.

Kuroda defended Tokyo’s intervention and the bank’s monetary easing programs in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, describing the foreign exchange market movements as “rapid” and “one-sided”

Major blue-chip stocks were generally weaker in Tokyo.

Sony Group shares decreased 0.55 percent to 9,297 yen. Toyota fell 0.10 percent to 1,988 yen, fluctuating between positive and negative territory.

Fast Retailing, which operates Uniqlo, erased previous gains but was still up 0.11 percent to 78,670 yen. Later in the day, the corporation will release its annual profits report.

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