TOKYO, April 28 — Tokyo stocks opened lower today after sharp rallies in the previous session, with trade cautious ahead of several holidays including tomorrow and most of next week.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.21 per cent or 41.00 points at 19,742.22 in early trade, while the broader Topix index slipped 0.34 per cent or 4.92 points to 1,442.33.

After the Nikkei index closed up more than 2.7 per cent yesterday following additional easing from the Bank of Japan, trade today "is seen moving in a narrow range”, Toshiyuki Kanayama, senior market analyst at Monex, said in a note.

The dollar fetched ¥107.26 (RM4.37) in early Asian trade, against ¥107.25 in New York.

The Nikkei was moving back and forth between positive and negative territory in early trade, after US shares rallied on hopes that the virus pandemic situation is improving.

In Tokyo, some exporters were lower, with Sony trading down 0.46 per cent at ¥6,748 and Toyota down 0.21 per cent at ¥6,645.

Industrial robot maker Fanuc was up 1.65 per cent at ¥16,905 while the Uniqlo casual wear operator Fast Retailing was up 0.78 per cent at ¥49,360.

Panasonic was up 3.93 per cent at ¥804 despite its announcement it had revised down sales forecasts for the fiscal year through March because of the virus pandemic.

On Wall Street, the Dow ended up 1.5 per cent at 24,133.78.

Japan’s jobless rate in March stood at 2.5 per cent, worsening by 0.1 percentage points from the previous month, according to data released by the internal affairs ministry before the opening bell.

The figure was in line with market expectations. — AFP