TOKYO: Tokyo shares have opened 0.88 per cent lower on a negative lead from Wall Street and a firmer yen.
The Nikkei index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange fell 184.17 points to 20,657.80 in the first minutes of trading on Wednesday.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 1.00 per cent, while the broad-based SP 500 dropped 0.43 per cent and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.21 per cent.
The Dow was in the red all day after IBM reported lower revenues for the 13th consecutive quarter and United Technologies cut its earnings forecasts because of weak growth in China and weak aviation parts sales.
In Tokyo forex trade, the US dollar was at Y123.88 early on Wednesday, slightly up from Y123.86 in New York late on Tuesday, but lower than Y124.35 in Tokyo early on Tuesday.
The euro fetched $US1.0937 and Y135.49, slightly down from $US1.0942 and Y135.53 in US trade.
On the Tokyo Stock Exchange, shares in Toshiba rose 1.9 per cent to Y404.7 in opening trade, a day after the president and seven other executives resigned over a $US1.2 billion ($A1.62 billion) accounting scandal.
A team of company-hired investigators confirmed that the firm ‘systematically’ inflated profits over several years.
