TOKYO, May 11 — Tokyo’s key Nikkei 225 index closed higher today as investors increasingly took to the sidelines ahead of key US inflation data due later in the day.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index edged up 0.18 per cent, or 46.54 points, to close at 26,213.64, while the broader Topix index slipped 0.60 per cent, or 11.23 points, to 1,851.15.
Investors were keenly awaiting US consumer price data for any signs of the Federal Reserve’s next monetary tightening steps to battle inflation, analysts said.
In late Tokyo trade, some investors started to “buy back after a series of declines in the previous sessions,” Okasan Online Securities added.
The dollar fetched ¥130.36 in Asian trade, against ¥130.41 in New York on Monday.
Toyota dropped 4.42 per cent to ¥2,082 after it posted record net profit and sales but unveiled a cautious forecast for the current year to March 2023.
Other automakers were also lower, with Honda dropping 3.05 per cent to ¥3,247 and Nissan closing down 1.46 per cent at ¥499.
Nintendo rallied 3.25 per cent to ¥58,190, a day after it reported a solid net profit for the financial year to March on the strong performance of its blockbuster Switch console.
SoftBank Group was down 0.35 per cent at ¥4,883 ahead of its earnings report due tomorrow.
Panasonic ended down 1.86 per cent at ¥1,134, after a report that the electronics giant is planning to build a plant in the United States to produce batteries for electric vehicles, eyeing to supply them to Tesla.
After the market’s close, Panasonic reported a net profit of ¥255.3 billion (RM8.59 billion) for the year to March 2022, up 54.7 per cent on-year.
For the current year, it forecasts a net profit of ¥260 billion. — AFP
