TOKYO: Tokyo stocks fell 0.26 percent on Thursday on profit-taking following a recent rally and as the yen rebounded against the dollar.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed 37.80 points lower at 14,387.27, while the Topix index of all first-section shares lost 0.41 percent, or 4.89 points, to 1,184.36.
Investors cashed in after the Nikkei added more than four percent between Monday and Wednesday, driven by upbeat Japanese growth data and Tokyo's winning bid to host the 2020 Olympics.
"The Japanese market remains largely an individual investor and hedge-fund driven market as the 2020 Summer Olympics Tokyo host city catalyst has not fully played out," said SMBC Nikko Securities general manager of equities Hiroichi Nishi.
"That said, while the energy in the market remains robust, stocks are clearly overbought and due for some consolidation," he added.
The dollar weakened to 99.31 yen in Tokyo afternoon trading, from 99.92 yen in New York and well off the 100.50 levels seen in Asia Wednesday. A stronger yen is a negative for Japanese exporters and tends to weigh on their shares.
The market was little moved after media reports said Japan will raise its sales tax next year and plans to launch a $50-billion stimulus package to avoid hurting the nation's budding economic recovery.
In share trading, Mitsubishi Motors fell 8.05 percent to 1,028 yen after the leading Nikkei business daily said the automaker was planning a 200 billion yen share offering, stoking dilution fears.
Toyota was down 1.10 percent at 6,270 yen while Sony eased 1.22 percent to 2,103 yen.
SoftBank rose 0.75 percent to 6,670 yen after a news report said the mobile carrier will receive loans worth $3 billion from government-affiliated banks to diversify its funding sources following a $21.6 billion takeover of US-based Sprint Nextel.
Wall Street closed mixed Wednesday, with the Dow 0.89 percent higher, while Apple dragged down the tech-heavy Nasdaq after its iPhone launch missed expectations. (AFP)
