Tokyo Stocks Close Lower Weighed By Rate Hike Fears 25 April 2018

:Tokyo stocks closed lower on Wednesday, extending falls on Wall Street over worries about higher interest rates, with investors waiting for earnings results. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 0.28 percent,

Tokyo, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Apr, 2018 ) :Tokyo stocks closed lower on Wednesday, extending falls on Wall Street over worries about higher interest rates, with investors waiting for earnings results.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 0.28 percent, or 62.80 points, to end at 22,215.32, while the broader Topix index was down 0.11 percent, or 2.02 points, at 1,767.73. "Following falls in US shares, Tokyo shares are seen dominated by sales before some bargain-hunting purchases emerge," SBI Securities said in a commentary.

Investors could "sit on the sidelines as the earnings season is fully in progress," it said. In Tokyo share trading, Canon fell 1.64 percent at 3,833 Yen ahead of its earnings report due later on Wednesday.

Semiconductor equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron dropped 2.01 percent to 19,415 yen ahead of its earnings report due later in the day. Shares in Takeda Pharmaceutical plunged 7.02 percent to 4,510 yen, after the board of Irish pharmaceutical company Shire said it would recommend a new �46 billion ($64 billion) takeover bid by Takeda.

Automakers were up, with Toyota climbing 0.81 percent to 7,168 yen and Honda 1.20 percent to 3,785 yen. Trading firm Itochu edged up 0.25 percent to 2,187 yen after a report by the business daily Nikkei said it would withdraw from a plan to build a nuclear power facility in Turkey due to snowballing costs of safety measures.

Kobe Steel tumbled 3.55 percent to 1,138 yen after the company confirmed that it is under investigation by prosecutors over its data-falsifying scandal. "We'll cooperate sincerely with authorities," Kobe Steel said in a statement.

The Dollar fetched 109.06 yen in Asian trade, against 108.65 yen in New York. On Tuesday, Wall Street stocks tumbled on worries about higher interest rates and disappointment over US corporate earnings reports that have been not strong enough to propel the market upwards, with Dow closing 1.7 percent lower.