Japanese Stocks Fall for First Day in Four as Earnings Weigh
Japanese stocks fell for the first day in four as earnings disappointments from some major companies weighed on sentiment ahead of the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy decision later Thursday.
Topix Index fell 0.5% to 2,691.05 as of 10:03 a.m. Tokyo time
Nikkei declined 0.5% to 39,082.43
Hitachi Ltd. contributed the most to the Topix Index decline, decreasing 8.6%, after its earnings report Wednesday. Kyocera also slumped following its financial results.
Out of 2,128 stocks in the index, 1,235 rose and 762 fell, while 131 were unchanged.
The market is trading based on earnings announcements from individual companies, said Kenji Abe, a strategist at Daiwa Securities. “Most people think that the BOJ will leave interest rates unchanged this time and is not having that much of an impact on today’s stock prices.”
Tech-related shares were also down after the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index declined 3.4% on Wednesday. US futures fell, dragged down by post-market losses for Microsoft’s disappointing second-quarter forecasts.
Source : Bloomberg
