TOKYO: Tokyo stocks have opened 0.18 per cent lower after the Federal Reserve sent the US dollar tumbling with a surprisingly dovish forecast for growth and interest rates.
The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange, which closed at a fresh 15-year high on Wednesday, slipped 35.06 points to 19,509.42 at the start on Thursday.
Shares in Nintendo, which shot up more than 21 per cent on Wednesday following the unveiling of a plan to move into smartphone gaming, continued to surge with the putative bid price at Y19,480.0, up 14.1 per cent from the previous day’s close.
Bid offers again overwhelmed sell offers, so the issue had not actually begun changing hands.
Wall Street stocks jumped on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve trimmed its US economic forecast and signalled a cautious approach to raising interest rates.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 1.27 per cent to 18,076.19, while the broad-based S&P 500 gained 1.21 per cent at 2,099.42.
The US dollar faced selling pressure after the Fed indicated that rates would rise much more slowly over the next two years than they had forecast in December.
The US dollar was quoted at Y120.07 against Y120.09 in New York late on Wednesday, well down from the Y121.35 level in Tokyo earlier in the global day.
A stronger yen is negative for Japanese exporters as it makes them less competitive abroad and erodes profits when repatriated.
The euro changed hands at $US1.0844 and Y130.20 in Tokyo, compared with $US1.0871 and Y130.54 in New York.
