The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange was down 1.19 points at 9,130.55 by the break, while the Topix index of all first-section issues lost 0.28 percent or 2.11 points to 760.62/FILE
TOKYO, Aug 23 – Tokyo stocks edged lower Thursday morning with a strong yen weighing against expectations that the US Federal Reserve would launch more stimulus to power the world’s biggest economy.
The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange was down 1.19 points at 9,130.55 by the break, while the Topix index of all first-section issues lost 0.28 percent or 2.11 points to 760.62.
The dollar was trading around the 78.5 yen level Thursday morning, after losing nearly one percent against the yen overnight following the release of minutes from the US Federal Reserve’s last policy meeting which showed the central bank tilting toward new stimulus measures.
“The market is reacting in knee-jerk fashion to the stronger yen,” Tatsunori Kawai, chief strategist at kabu.com Securities in Japan, told Dow Jones Newswires.
“But as long as the dollar holds around the 78 yen mark, stock prices should not be adversely affected,” Kawai added.
Exporters fell on the stronger Japanese currency with Honda Motor off 1.20 percent to 2,621 yen and Nissan Motor down 2.17 percent at 765 yen.
Troubled electronics giant Sharp Corp. gained 3.33 percent to 186 yen after a report said the company’s creditors were considering loaning the firm more than 200 billion yen ($2.55 billion).
