Tokyo: Shares close lower

TOKYO shares closed lower on Monday (Nov 14), dragged down by market heavyweight SoftBank Group, which tanked more than 12 per cent after reporting a half-year net loss.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 1.06 per cent, or 300.10 points, to end at 27,963.47, while the broader Topix index fell 1.05 per cent, or 20.86 points, to 1,956.90.

Analysts said traders locked in profits after a positive session on Friday, when the Nikkei advanced nearly 3 per cent on hopes for less aggressive Federal Reserve rate hikes due to slowing US inflation.

The dollar fetched 139.35 yen, up from around 138.70 yen in New York late on Friday – a retreat from the multi-decade highs of beyond 151 yen hit last month.

“While US stocks surged on expectations of an early end to the Fed’s interest-rate hikes, the US dollar fell sharply,” said chief strategist Masayuki Kubota of Rakuten Securities.

SoftBank Group dived 12.7 per cent to 6,068 yen after the company reported a net loss of 129 billion yen (S$1.27 billion) in the April-September period, brought down by its record net loss in the first quarter.

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In the second quarter, however, it posted a net profit thanks to gains from the recent reduction of its stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.

Olympus plunged 10.8 per cent to 2,758.5 after it cut its full-year operating profit forecast and reported a lower-than-expected second-quarter operating profit.

Nissan fell 1.3 per cent to 492.9 yen, while Toyota slipped 0.7 per cent to 1,986 yen. Nintendo dropped 1.7 per cent to 5,659 yen. AFP