Tokyo: Stocks close down as trade worries resurface

[TOKYO] Tokyo stocks closed lower on Tuesday, tracking losses in global markets as investors fret over the latest flare-up in the China-US trade war involving Chinese tech giant Huawei.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 0.14 per cent, or 29.28 points, to 21,272.45, while the Topix index was down 0.30 perc ent, or 4.62 points, at 1,550.30.

"The Tokyo market was hit by aftershocks of the Huawei dispute," Toshikazu Horiuchi, a broker at IwaiCosmo Securities Co. Ltd, told AFP.

Yutaka Masushima, market analyst at Monex, said in a note: "The US market continued its losses on worries over business stopping between US companies and China's Huawei."

On Wall Street, shares of technology companies fell sharply after Google began to sever ties with Chinese telecoms giant Huawei amid the US-China trade war.

In Tokyo, tech firms were largely lower as electronic parts maker Rohm dropped 1.16 per cent to 6,760 yen, with chip-making equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron down 1.87 per cent at 15,420 yen.

Automakers were mixed as Toyota was down 0.50 per cent at 6,494 yen but Honda rose 0.10 per cent to 2,832.5 yen.

SoftBank Group rallied 3.52 per cent to 10,705 yen after the top official at the US communications regulator on Monday announced support for the proposed US$26-billion merger between Sprint and T-Mobile.

SoftBank owns the majority of Sprint shares.

AFP