TOKYO: Tokyo stocks ended the morning session lower Tuesday despite an upbeat economic report as profit-takers moved in after a four-day rally, while investors also tracked a retreat on Wall Street.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange slipped 116.87 points to 19,525.87 by the break, while the broader Topix index of all first-section issues eased 0.73 percent, or 11.66 points, to 1,579.31.
Wall Street’s three main indexes gave up about one percent Monday hit by poor Chinese trade data at the weekend and a fall in crude oil prices.
“Japan’s market rose for four days — it is likely to pause,” Mitsuo Shimizu, deputy general manager at Japan Asia Securities Group Ltd, told Bloomberg News.
Japan on Tuesday said its current account surplus more than quadrupled in the six months to September thanks to an improving trade picture.
The 8.7 trillion yen ($70.7 billion) figure was well up from the 2.0 trillion yen a year earlier, according to official data.
In currency trading, the dollar edged down to 123.15 yen from 123.19 yen in New York, while the euro bought $1.0754 and 132.44 yen against $1.0748 and 132.40 yen.
In Tokyo trading, automaker Toyota fell 0.28 percent to 7,603 yen, while telecoms and mobile phone company SoftBank slipped 1.61 percent to 6,804 yen.
Market heavyweight Fast Retailing, operator of the Uniqlo clothing chain, gained 0.92 percent to 47,150 yen.
Toshiba rose 0.51 percent to 311.6 yen even after Moody’s downgraded the credit rating of the embattled electronics giant.
