TOKYO: Japanese stocks simmered in mild losses early Tuesday, with traders reportedly growing cautious ahead of a U.S. Federal Reserve statement and a Bank of Japan policy decision, both due later this week. The Nikkei Stock Average NIK, -0.55% was down 0.2% minutes into trade, with the Topix I0000, -0.57% weaker by 0.3%, and the U.S. dollar USDJPY, +0.13% buying ¥123.46, not far from its ¥123.31 level 24 hours earlier. Many of the blue chips took losses after a down day on Wall Street, with Nikon Corp. 7731, -1.48% NINOF, -18.21% down 1.4%, Fanuc Corp. 6954, -1.77% FANUF, -0.60% down 1.2%, and Mazda Motor Corp. 7261, -0.98% MZDAF, -1.28% down 1%. Sony Corp. 6758, -1.19% SNE, +0.79% was off by 0.8% just ahead of its presentation at the E3 videogame industry conference in Los Angeles, though Nintendo Co. 7974, +0.32% NTDOF, -5.68% rose 0.9%, and Capcom Co. 9697, +1.67% added 1.5%. Financials were also a soft spot, with Mizuho Financial Group Inc. 8411, -2.05% MFG, +0.94% down 0.9%, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. 8316, -3.13% SMFG, +0.22% down 1.6%, and Orix Corp. 8591, -2.31% down 1.4%. Shares of shipper Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. 9104, -3.48% MSLOF, +0.00% dropped 3.2% after a 2% gain in the previous session, while Toshiba Corp. 6502, -1.01% TOSYY, +1.79% extended its day-earlier losses to fall 1.4% amid continued concern over its accounting problems. Over in the auto sector, Toyota Motor Corp. 7203, +0.08% TM, +0.01% lost 0.7%, but Honda Motor Co. 7267, -1.14% HMC, -0.72% rose 0.1%, with McClatchy Tribune reporting it was ditching its Civic hybrid and compressed-natural-gas models. Isuzu Motors Ltd. 7202, -0.03% ISUZF, -5.46% rose 0.3%, adding to previous gains on the back of its truck tie-up with General Motors Co. GM, -0.70% while Suzuki Motor Corp. 7269, -0.60% SZKMF, -0.46% improved by 0.5% after news of its own alliance with Malaysian auto maker Proton. Renesas Electronics Corp. 6723, +0.54% RNECY, -1.32% advanced 2.4% amid a Nikkei report highlighting the company’s push into components for connected devices. And among the smaller names, pharmacy operator Qol Co. 3034, +4.98% rose 5.5% as another Nikkei report tipped the company to post 30% operating-profit growth during the current fiscal year.
