TOKYO: Tokyo stocks have closed 0.64 per cent lower as investors eye deadlocked Greek debt talks and await the outcome of a Federal Reserve policy meeting later in the week.
The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Tuesday lost 129.85 points to close at 20,257.94, while the broader Topix index of all first-section shares fell 0.73 per cent, or 12.06 points, to 1,639.86.
After the collapse of talks at the weekend, both sides in the long-running Greek crisis were locked in a stalemate, blaming each other for the impasse.
The European executive insisted the EU-IMF creditors had made “major concessions”, but the anti-austerity government in Athens continues to reject what it views as “irrational” demands.
Greece must agree on a deal by the end of the month, when it is due to make a huge debt repayment, or else it faces a default that could lead to it plunging out of the eurozone.
“As the time limit nears for Greece, negotiations aren’t reaching a conclusion. Investors can’t go long on Japanese stocks with abandon,” Toshihiko Matsuno, chief strategist at SMBC Friend Securities, told Bloomberg News.
The lack of progress weighed on European markets while Wall Street also turned down. The Dow slipped 0.60 per cent, the S&P 500 fell 0.46 per cent and the Nasdaq lost 0.42 per cent.
The Fed on Wednesday wraps up its latest policy meeting, with investors hoping for some new guidance on its plans for interest rates following a broadly upbeat string of data on the US economy in recent weeks.
