Tokyo, May 30, 2024 (AFP)
Tokyo stocks closed lower on Thursday with the market weighed down by falls in semiconductor shares following losses on Wall Street.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed down 1.30 percent, or 502.74 points, at 38,054.13, while the broader Topix index slid 0.56 percent, or 15.42 points, to 2,726.20.
"In addition to weakness in the major European and US stock indexes, investor sentiment was dampened when US firm Salesforce plunged after announcing its financial results," IwaiCosmo Securities said.
"In Japan, government bond yields hit 1.1 percent for the first time in almost 13 years, leading to an acceleration in losses of tech-related stocks."
Rising bond yields in the United States and Japan are weighing on Tokyo stocks. Investors speculate that the Bank of Japan may start reducing its bond purchases or hiking interest rates in a gradual effort to scale down its super-easy monetary policy.
The dollar stood at 156.86 yen, compared with 157.70 yen in New York overnight.
Semiconductor-related shares were lower, with Advantest plunging 6.11 percent to 5,319 yen and Tokyo Electron dropping 2.49 percent to 34,500 yen.
Toyota lost 1.77 percent to 3,330 yen while SoftBank Group tumbled 2.30 percent to 8,758 yen.
But Sony Group gained 1.24 percent to 12,650 yen after Bloomberg News said it was working with another investor in talks to acquire Queen's music catalogue, potentially for up to $1 billion.
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Sumber : AFP