TOKYO: Tokyo stocks fell 1.02 percent Thursday morning after a three-day holiday, tracking declines on Wall Street which reacted to poor US jobs data and a warning from the Federal Reserve chief on high equity valuations.
The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange fell 199.81 points to 19,331.82 by the break, while the Topix index of all first-section issues was down 0.64 percent, or 10.15 points, to 1,575.46.
Fed chair Janet Yellen, speaking at a Washington conference, warned that “equity market valuations at this point generally are quite high”.Payroll firm ADP meanwhile reported the US added just 169,000 private-sector jobs in April, the second month in a row under 200,000.
The data came ahead of Friday s highly anticipated Labor Department jobs report, with a weak reading likely to further cloud the timeline for a Fed interest rate hike.
“The US economy was expected to bottom out in March and recover in the second quarter, but so far the figures for April have been poor,” said Mitsushige Akino, an executive officer at Ichiyoshi Asset Management.
“Sentiment could sour even more depending on the April payrolls report. Risk-off movements could intensify if the US economic situation is deemed to be weak,” he told Bloomberg News.
In Tokyo share trading, Nintendo was down 2.66 percent to 19,715.0 yen before the videogame giant announces full-year earnings later in the day.
