Tokyo stocks down 0.62pc by break

FE Team | Published: June 17, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

TOKYO, June 16 (AFP): Tokyo shares slipped 0.62 per cent Monday morning, as the yen strengthened on worries over the escalating crisis in Iraq.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 94.01 points at 15,003.83 by the break, while the Topix index of all first-section shares fell 0.28 per cent, or 3.44 points, to 1,240.53.
"The market is short-term overbought," said Yoshihiro Okumura, general manager at Chibagin Asset Management.
But the scale of the market's downturn has been limited and a wash of foreign money back into Japan's premier stock market could drive a rally, he added.
"There isn't too much we can expect from a domestic investor-centred rally," Okumura told Dow Jones Newswires.
"But recent Nikkei performances have been encouraging. If and when foreigners do return, the effect will likely be dramatic."
Investors are nervously tracking events in Iraq as Islamic militants sweep though the country, taking over key cities and moving towards Baghdad as US-trained Iraqi forces crumble.
Markets were also jittery as Europe faced gas supply disruptions Monday after Ukraine failed to broker an 11th-hour deal with Russia in a feud that has stoked the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War.
Ukraine hosted the last-gasp talks hoping to keep an energy shortage from compounding the new pro-Western leaders' problems as they confront a two-month separatist insurgency threatening the survival of the ex-Soviet state.
The geopolitical jitters pushed traders into the Japanese yen, a safe haven during times of uncertainty.
In foreign exchange trade, the dollar weakened to 101.87 yen from 102.04 yen in New York Friday. Toyota turned down 0.13 per cent to 5,846 yen by the break, Panasonic fell 1.00 per cent to 1,188 yen while market heavyweight Fast Retailing, operator of the Uniqlo clothing chain, was down 1.97 per cent at 33,305 yen.