LOS ANGELES: Japanese blue-chip stocks deflated mildly in early Tuesday trade, with the Nikkei Average XJO, -0.41% down 0.3%, failing to catch a lift from the broader Topix, which was 0.1% higher.
A mildly firmer yen (dollar USDJPY, -0.14% at ¥118.64, vs. ¥118.83 at previous Tokyo close) and overnight losses on Wall Street all helped drag on the larger Tokyo names. Among some of the top companies, Panasonic Corp. 6752, -0.46% PCRFF, +0.18% and Softbank Corp. 9984, -0.50% SFTBF, +0.16% each saw their shares lose 0.4%, while Hitachi Ltd. 6501, -1.20% HTHIF, +0.90% fell 0.7%, and Fast Retailing Co. 9983, -1.43% FRCOF, -1.07% retreated 1.1%, but on the upside, Sony Corp. 6758, -0.82% SNE, -3.31% rose 0.3%, Toshiba Corp. 6502, +0.63% TOSYY, -0.70% improved by 0.7%, and Toyota Motor Corp. 7203, -0.13% TM, -0.32% inched up 0.1%. Shares of Nissan Motor Co. 7201, +3.67% NSANY, +4.10% jumped 3.6% after Japan’s No. 2 auto maker posted a more-than-20% profit gain and revised its full-year earnings outlook higher. The market largely yawned at news Daniel Loeb’s Third Point had invested in Fanuc Corp. 6954, +2.97% FANUF, +0.12% its stock flat in early moves. And shares of Inpex Corp. 1605, +3.29% IPXHY, +0.26% rebounded 2.1% higher after a sharp pullback Monday on its earnings miss, as oil prices improved, also helping send Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. 1662, +1.71% JPTXF, -21.98% up 1.1%.
