TOKYO, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) — Japan’s benchmark Nikkei stock index closed marginally decrease on Tuesday amid cautious buying and selling forward of a speech by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and additional earnings bulletins from companies.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average shed 8.18 factors, or 0.03 p.c, from Monday to shut the day at 27,685.47.
The broader Topix index, in the meantime, added 4.18 factors, or 0.21 p.c, to complete at 1,983.40.
Local brokers stated buying and selling was considerably directionless as earnings studies had been each optimistic and detrimental, whereas all eyes had been on Fed chair Powell’s speech later within the day for clues concerning the future route of the central financial institution’s rate of interest hikes.
“The market lost direction as the earnings season continues in Japan. There was a mixture of buying and selling based on outcomes,” stated Chihiro Ohta, assistant common supervisor on the funding analysis and investor companies at SMBC Nikko Securities.
“Also market participants want to know what Fed Chair Powell will say later in the day.”
Other markets strategists stated that the market may be bracing for hawkish remarks from Powell following the discharge of stable U.S. employment information final week.
“Investors were cautious over Mr. Powell’s remarks as they would be the first after stronger-than-expected U.S. employment data was released last week,” Toshikazu Horiuchi, an fairness strategist at IwaiCosmo Securities Co., was quoted as saying.
Among exporters discovering favor, Nissan Motor gained 0.4 p.c, whereas chip-testing tools maker Advantest added 1.5 p.c.
Uniqlo clothes chain proprietor Fast Retailing fell 0.5 p.c, to weigh probably the most on the Nikkei, whereas fellow heavyweight, expertise investor SoftBank Group, dropped 1 p.c.
Steel producer JFE Holdings plunged 8.5 p.c, after downwardly revising its earnings projection for the present enterprise 12 months by way of March.
By the shut of play, iron and metal and actual property points comprised those who declined probably the most, whereas banks and textiles led notable gainers.
The turnover on the second buying and selling day of the week got here to 2,642.47 billion yen (20.04 billion U.S. {dollars}).