Tokyo shares fell 0.70 per cent on Monday following a slump on Wall Street, the yen’s strength against the euro and a weaker than expected earnings forecast from Toyota, brokers said.
The benchmark Nikkei index fell 66.23 points to 9,448.21. The Topix index of all first-section issues was down 0.63 per cent or 5.12 points to 812.26.
Sentiment was dampened by Friday’s decline in US stocks and a relatively strong yen against the European unit, said Yutaka Miura, senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities.
US stock markets closed firmly in the red on Friday, with the Dow posting six straight weeks of losses for the first time since 2002.
In afternoon Asian trade on Monday, the euro traded at 115.52 yen against 116.19 yen late last week amid ongoing concerns over Greek debt woes.
A surprise 3.3 per cent decline in Japan’s core machinery orders had little impact on sentiment, brokers said.
“There’s still not much expectation for manufacturers to invest in machinery at this point,” said Kazuhiro Takahashi, general manager of investment strategy and research at Daiwa Securities.
Toyota Motor fell 2.42 per cent to 3,220 after the automaker projected its net profit for the fiscal year ending March 31 would drop 31 per cent to 280 billion yen ($3.5 billion), well short of analysts’ forecast.
Honda Motor dropped 2.47 per cent to 2,911 following news reports that the automaker expects a decline in global production for the current fiscal year due to disruptions caused by the March 11 earthquake.
Renesas Electronics climbed 3.46 per cent to 747 after the company said on Friday it expects to return to pre-quake supply capacity in late September, a month earlier than previously forecast.