TOKYO: Japanese stocks fell, dragged down by energy explorers as oil prices declined and mobile carriers after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for lower phone rates.
Mobile carriers NTT Docomo Inc., KDDI Corp. and SoftBank Group Corp. sank at least 5.5 percent after Abe said reducing the burden on households from mobile phone fees is an important issue to tackle. Energy explorer Inpex Corp. declined 6 percent as crude oil traded below $45 a barrel. Kansai Electric Power Co. climbed 1.9 percent as utilities led gains on the Topix index. Shipper Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd. jumped 1.8 percent after Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. raised its investment rating.
The Topix slipped 0.9 percent to 1,466.37 as of 12:58 p.m. in Tokyo, swinging from a gain of 0.5 percent after last week capping its biggest weekly increase in almost two months. Volume was 34 percent below the 30-day intraday average. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average dropped 1.4 percent to 18,001.12. Both the Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan are holding policy meetings this week.
“Calling costs are high and while that’s good news for consumers, the stocks are falling on the same theme,” said Hiroaki Hiwada, a Tokyo-based strategist at Toyo Securities Co. “Investors are passing over the market ahead of the BOJ and FOMC policy meetings.”
