TOKYO, March 14 ― Tokyo shares closed lower today as lingering concerns over the US-China trade dispute and the fate of Brexit weighed on the market in late trade, erasing their early gains.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index edged down 0.02 per cent, or 3.22 points, to 21,287.02, while the broader Topix index fell 0.24 per cent, or 3.78 points, at 1,588.29.

Tokyo shares opened higher as investors attempted to recover losses from the previous day, taking their cue from overnight gains on Wall Street.

But shares gradually fell into negative territory in late trading “as negative factors outnumbered positive ones,” said Daiwa Securities senior technical analyst Hikaru Sato.

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“There appeared to be no major progress in US-China negotiations this week, while the outlook for Brexit remained uncertain,” Sato told AFP.

British lawmakers voted to reject the notion of crashing out of the European Union, which is still due to occur in just over two weeks, without a deal.

They earlier this week rejected the divorce deal negotiated by Prime Minister Theresa May.

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“The yen is stabilising at lower levels, which is among the positive elements for the market,” Sato said.

The dollar stood at ¥111.58 (RM4.08) in Asian afternoon trade, compared with ¥111.17 in New York yesterday.

Overnight, the Dow closed up 0.6 per cent, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both added 0.7 per cent.

Among major Tokyo shares, Nintendo dropped 1.81 per cent to ¥30,280 as Sony lost 0.73 per cent to ¥5,128.

Toyota fell 0.63 per cent to 6,543 yen but Nissan rose 0.17 per cent to 930.9 yen.

Uniqlo-operator Fast Retailing gained 0.43 per cent to ¥53,710 and Internet investor SoftBank jumped 1.31 per cent to ¥10,795. ― AFP