TOKYO: Tokyo stocks closed 0.39 percent lower on Thursday, despite US shares hitting all-time highs and fresh data that showed Japan's economy grew between January and March.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which closed at its highest level in more than five years on Wednesday, lost 58.79 points to 15,037.24, while the Topix index of all first-section shares declined 0.61 percent, or 7.62 points, at 1,245.23.
Profit-taking helped drag the market into negative territory, but "given the present policy environments, the outlook for equities remains strong", said SMBC Nikko Securities general manager of equities Hiroichi Nishi.
The Tokyo market has surged in recent months as the government's bid to stoke the economy with big spending and aggressive central bank easing has weighed on the yen, which helps make Japanese exporters more competitive overseas while inflating the value of repatriated foreign income.
Just before the opening bell, official data showing the world's third-largest economy expanded 0.9 percent on quarter in the three months to March, marking an early sign of success in Tokyo's bid to boost long-tepid growth.
In Thursday Tokyo trade, Olympus soared 18.41 percent to 3,215 yen, a day after the camera and medical equipment maker said it had swung to an annual net profit as it turns the page on a huge accounting scandal, with profits on track to more than triple in the current fiscal year to March 2014.
Japan's top three banks all declined despite posting healthy profits Wednesday, with Mitsubishi UFJ down 3.55 percent to 706 yen, Mizuho Financial Group falling 3.09 percent to 219 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui down 2.95 percent to 4,770 yen.
In afternoon forex trade the dollar bought 102.39 yen, from 102.23 yen in New York late Wednesday, while the euro was nearly flat at 131.71 yen.
Overnight, US stocks rose to new all-time highs on Wednesday as investors shrugged off more economic gloom from the eurozone.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.40 percent to 15,275.69, setting a new record closing high for the second day in a row, while the broad-based S&P 500 added 0.51 percent to 1,658.78, its fourth straight day of record closes.
Official figures showed the eurozone economy shrank 0.2 percent between January and March, the sixth consecutive quarterly contraction in the longest recession since the single currency bloc was established in 1999. (AFP)
