TOKYO: Tokyo stocks closed down 0.94 percent on Monday as investors locked in profits after the benchmark Nikkei 225 index briefly jumped past the 11,000 mark for the first time in nearly three years.
The Nikkei slipped 102.34 points to 10,824.31 after a weaker yen helped it push past 11,000 for the first time since April 2010. The Topix index of all first-section shares was down 0.36 percent, or 3.31 points, to 913.78.
Yoshihiro Okumura, general manager at Chibagin Asset Management, said the dollar's rise above 91 yen and the Nikkei hitting the 11,000 mark provided incentives to sell.
"The market has come too far too fast to allow cash to sit on the table," he told Dow Jones Newswires. "At some point, investors have to lock in gains or risk getting burned."
A weakening yen has been a key contributor to Tokyo's recent rally as it helps makes Japanese exports more competitive overseas.
In Tokyo forex trade the dollar bought 91.02 yen, up from 90.87 yen in New York on Friday, while the euro was at 122.55 yen from 122.28 yen in US trade.
Against the dollar, the single currency was nearly flat at $1.3461.
In stock trading, Takeda Pharmaceutical rose 1.42 percent to 4,615 yen after the firm's diabetes drug won US Food and Drug Administration approval, while retailer Seven & i Holdings, which operates 7-Eleven convenience stores in Japan, was up 3.09 percent at 2,794 yen.
Industrial robotics maker Fanuc dropped 7.00 percent to 13,550 yen after revising down its full-year financial outlook, as Japan's corporate earnings seasons gets under way this week.
Sony jumped 9.06 percent to 1,407 yen on the weak yen and after Merrill Lynch Japan raised its target price on the stock, while Osaka-listed videogame giant Nintendo was up 3.43 percent at 9,630 yen. (AFP)
