Tokyo: Tokyo stocks opened lower Thursday, extending falls on Wall Street after the Federal Reserve signalled it could lift interest rates again this year.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.37 percent, or 121.66 points, at 32,902.12 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was down 0.10 percent, or 2.43 points, at 2,403.57.
“The Japanese market is expected to start with losses following falls in US shares,” Monex senior market analyst Toshiyuki Kanayama said.
The Fed voted Wednesday to hold interest rates at a 22-year high while predicting that lending rates will need to remain higher for longer to definitively cool inflation.
The dollar fetched 148.37 yen in early Asian trade, against 148.22 yen in New York, where the greenback rallied against the euro and other major currencies.
Overnight, all three US major stocks indices finished in the red, with the Dow finishing down 0.2 percent at 34,440.88, the broad-based S&P shedding 0.9 percent, and the tech-rich Nasdaq tumbling 1.5 percent.
“The critical question is where interest rates will ultimately settle once the Fed concludes its hiking cycle,” said Stephen Innes, managing partner of SPI Asset Management.
“And whether the US economy avoids a recession is a significant consideration for both stock and bond investors,” he said.
In Tokyo, Sony Group was down 1.03 percent at 12,470 yen, drugmaker Eisai was off 1.99 percent at 8,671 yen, and electronic parts maker Murata Manufacturing was down 1.93 percent at 8,220 yen.
SoftBank Group was down 1.84 percent at 6,343 yen. Toyota was up 0.73 percent at 2,819.5 yen.
Toshiba was up 0.17 percent at 4,605.0 yen after it announced a successful tender offer to take the troubled Japanese conglomerate private.
“Since the total number of shares tendered exceeded the minimum number of shares to be purchased, the tender offer was successfully completed,” with the offerer obtaining 78.65 percent in shares, Toshiba said.
Remaining Toshiba shares that the offerers was unable to acquire “will be delisted in accordance with the delisting criteria determined by the Tokyo Stock Exchange,” the company said.
