TOKYO, May 23, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Tokyo shares opened lower Thursday,
following drops on Wall Street as US-China trade and tech disputes continued
to intensify.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 0.47 percent, or 100.50 points, to
21,182.87 in early trade, while the broader Topix index slipped 0.39 percent,
or 6.09 points, to 1,540.12.
“Japanese shares are seen pressured by falls in the US market and a halt
in the yen’s depreciation” against the dollar, Yoshihiro Ito, chief
strategist at Okasan Online Securities said in a commentary.
US stocks fell back into the red on Wednesday amid intensifying trade
frictions.
“Japanese chip-related shares may face head winds,” the brokerage firm
added, as US chip titan Qualcom dived after a federal judge found the company
had “strangled competition” by violating US anti-trust laws.
The dollar fetched 110.22 yen in early Asian trade, down modestly from
110.30 yen in New York and 110.48 yen in Tokyo on Tuesday.
In Tokyo, chip-testing equipment maker Advantest fell 3.21 percent to
2,651 yen, and chip-making equipment maker Tokyo Electron was off 1.92
percent at 14,990 yen.
Sharp was down 1.89 percent at 988 yen while Sony was 2.67 percent lower
at 5,425 yen.
SoftBank Group dropped 3.94 percent to 10,235 yen after a report that the
US Department of Justice’s antitrust staff has opposed the proposed $26-
billion merger between Sprint and T-Mobile.
SoftBank owns the majority of Sprint shares.
Panasonic was down 0.58 percent at 899.3 yen, after it said it is
suspending business with Huawei following a US ban on the Chinese tech giant
over security fears.
On Wall Street, the Dow ended down 0.4 percent at 25,776.61 while the
tech-rich Nasdaq closed 0.5 percent lower.