Tokyo's Nikkei Index Closes Down For Third Straight Session 24 January 2019

Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei index fell for the third consecutive session on Thursday in cautious trade amid a lingering sense of uncertainty over the outlook for the global economy

Tokyo, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 24th Jan, 2019 ) :Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei index fell for the third consecutive session on Thursday in cautious trade amid a lingering sense of uncertainty over the outlook for the global economy.

The Nikkei 225 index was down 0.09 percent or 19.09 points to close at 20,574.63, but the broader Topix index rose 0.36 percent or 5.57 points to 1,552.60.

Trading volume remained thin, suggesting investors were taking a wait-and-see attitude amid a set of worries including the US government shutdown and Brexit deadlock, and ahead of the Japanese corporate earnings season next week, analysts said.

"These uncertain factors continued weighing on the market," said Daiwa Securities senior technical analyst Hikaru Sato.

"Market sentiment is unlikely to recover unless these elements turn positive," Sato told AFP.

The Dollar fetched 109.61 Yen in Asian afternoon trade, against 109.58 yen in New York late Wednesday.

Among major losers, Fast Retailing, which operates the Uniqlo brand, ended down 3.10 percent to 49,640 yen despite announcing a deal to provide kit for Sweden's summer and winter Olympians.

Nissan lost 0.52 percent to 905.5 yen as its partner Renault prepared to appoint a new leadership to replace Carlos Ghosn, who remains in a Japanese jail on financial misconduct charges.

Oil refiners closed mixed as JXTG was down 0.54 percent at 564.2 yen but Idemitsu Kosan rose 0.39 percent to 3,800 yen.

On Wall Street, the Dow finished up 0.7 percent and the broad-based S&P advanced 0.2 percent on Wednesday thanks to strong earnings reports.