TOKYO, Feb 13 ― Tokyo stocks opened lower today despite rallies on Wall Street, as Chinese authorities announced the death toll from new coronavirus surged by 242 in a single day in hard-hit Hubei province.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index slipped 0.14 per cent or 32.90 points to 23,828.31 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was down 0.25 per cent or 4.31 points at 1,714.61.
The announcement from China “is weighing on the sentiment of Japanese investors,” Ryuta Otsuka, chief strategist at Toyo Securities, told AFP.
“Perception among Japanese investors about ramifications of the new coronavirus on the economy seems to be fundamentally different from foreign investors,” he said.
The weak performance in the Tokyo bourse, despite rallies in global markets including Hong Kong's Hang Seng and China's Shanghai indexes in the previous session, “is probably because investors here are talking about short-term impact” from the virus rather than long-term, he added.
Analysts in general recommended bargain-hunting and buying shares on dips.
The dollar fetched ¥109.87 (RM4.13) in early trade, compared with ¥110.09 in New York.
In Tokyo, blue-chip exporters were mixed, with Honda gaining 0.27 per cent to ¥2,966 and Sony edging up 0.30 per cent to ¥7,740, while Toyota lost 0.27 per cent to ¥7,773 and Nintendo dropped 0.86 per cent to ¥40,210.
SoftBank Group was up 0.80 per cent at ¥5,797 after it said its net profit plunged nearly 70 per cent for the nine months to December.
Nissan was down 1.35 per cent at ¥569.6 ahead of its third-quarter earnings report due later Thursday.
The automaker said late yesterday it has filed a civil lawsuit seeking ¥10 billion from former chairman Carlos Ghosn for what it called “years of his misconduct and fraudulent activity”.
In New York, the Dow ended up 0.9 per cent at 29,551.42. ― AFP
