Tokyo: Stocks open lower, extending US losses

[TOKYO] Tokyo stocks opened lower on Friday (Apr 15) tracking losses on Wall Street over higher interest rate concerns.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.9 per cent, or 243.83 points, at 26,928.17 in early trade, while the broader Topix index slipped 0.9 per cent, or 16.38 points, to 1,891.67.

The Tokyo market is likely to be "dominated by sell orders as investors are disheartened by falls in US shares," Mizuho Securities said in a note, adding a wait-and-see attitude is set to grow as the US market will be closed for a holiday on Friday.

Wall Street stocks concluded a holiday-shortened week Thursday on a weak note, with tech shares diving amid worries over higher interest rates.

The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note surged above 2.8 per cent, resuming an upward climb after Wednesday's pullback helped boost stocks. Treasury yields are seen as a proxy for interest rates.

The dollar fetched 126.36 yen in early Asian trade, up from 125.87 yen in New York late Thursday.

It was a new 20-year low for the currency, after it breached the 126-mark earlier this week for the first time since 2002.

In Tokyo, Fast Retailing soared 4.97 per cent to 62,510 yen after the Uniqlo operator revised its annual net profit forecast upwards.

Sony Group was down 3.22 per cent at 11,135 yen, SoftBank Group was off 2.38 per cent at 5,625 yen, and Toyota was down 0.70 per cent at 2,115.5 yen.

Chip-linked shares dropped sharply, with semiconductor-testing equipment maker Advantest sinking 4.27 per cent to 8,300 yen and chip-making equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron trading down 4.06 per cent at 54,410 yen. AFP