Tokyo: Stocks open 0.88% lower

[TOKYO] Tokyo shares opened 0.88 per cent lower on Wednesday on a negative lead from Wall Street and a firmer yen.

The Nikkei index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange fell 184.17 points to 20,657.80 in the first minutes of trading.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 1.00 percent, while the broad-based S&P 500 dropped 0.43 per cent and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.21 per cent.

The Dow was in the red all day after IBM reported lower revenues for the 13th consecutive quarter and United Technologies cut its earnings forecasts due to weak growth in China and weak aviation parts sales.

In Tokyo forex trade, the dollar was at 123.88 yen early Wednesday, slightly up from 123.86 yen in New York late Tuesday, but lower than 124.35 yen in Tokyo early Tuesday.

The euro fetched US$1.0937 and 135.49 yen, slightly down from US$1.0942 and 135.53 yen in US trade.

On the Tokyo Stock Exchange, shares in Toshiba rose 1.9 per cent to 404.7 yen in opening trade, a day after the president and seven other executives resigned over a US$1.2 billion accounting scandal.

A team of company-hired investigators confirmed that the firm "systematically" inflated profits over several years.

AFP