On Friday, Japanese equities opened lower, extending declines on Wall Street where concerns about higher U.S. Treasury yields, inflation, and a deepening recession persisted.
In early trading, the Nikkei 225 index fell 0.58 percent, or 153.51 points, to 26,268.54, while the Topix index fell 0.43 percent, or 8.04 points, to 1,860.76.
“Japanese shares are likely to continue downtrend, following a recovery in the previous session and declines in European and US shares,” SBI Securities said in a note.
As Japan’s fiscal half-year ends on Friday, investors may adopt a “wait-and-see” attitude, according to brokerages.
Overnight, Wall Street’s major market indexes fell as U.S. government output continued to rise and the latest data showed initial claims for jobless benefits fell by 200,000 for the first time since May. Fell down.
In early Asian trade, the dollar was at 144.47 yen, up from 144.42 yen in New York late Thursday.
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki told an Asian Development Bank meeting in Manila on Thursday that Japan was ready to take “appropriate measures” in response to the currency’s rapid speculation.
This month, the government has already intervened in the currency to strengthen the yen against the dollar.
In August, Japan’s unemployment rate was 2.5 percent, down 0.1 percent from the previous month, and the number of jobs available per 100 job seekers rose to 132 from 129, according to official data.
SoftBank Group fell 2.04 percent to 4,928.0 yen, Sony Group shed two percent to 9,397 yen, and Toyota lost 1.99 percent to 1,999.5 yen, among the biggest shares.
Hitachi fell 1.77 percent to 6,231 yen. Hitachi and General Electric will jointly build a next-generation nuclear reactor to address safety flaws, according to a report published Friday.
