On Wednesday, Japan’s Nikkei stock index went down a little bit, dropping by 0.12% to 38,990.56 points. This happened because many investors were not making big moves, especially with Wall Street closed for the Christmas holiday.
Fumio Matsumoto, a chief strategist at Okasan Securities, noted that foreign investors were away, making it less exciting for local traders. Usually, local traders step in during this time, but they hesitated to make big trades when the larger stocks were not moving much.
Konami, an entertainment company, saw its shares drop by 1.74%, which affected the Nikkei the most. Other companies like Daiichi Sankyo (a drugmaker) and KDDI (a phone company) also saw declines of 1.41% and 0.59%, respectively.
The broader Topix index fell by 0.62% to 2,710.25 points, mainly pulled down by Toyota Motor’s 0.88% fall and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group’s 0.91% loss. Although Honda Motor’s shares dropped 0.77%, they had previously surged by 12.2% after announcing a share buyback on Monday.
While local companies have buyers supporting their stocks, many of these buybacks have slowed down as the year ends, causing additional pressure on the Nikkei.
However, on a brighter note, Nissan Motor managed to recover from earlier losses and rose by 8.6%, making it the biggest gainer on the Nikkei. Kawasaki Heavy Industries, a maker of heavy machinery, also had a good day, jumping by 4.78%.
In the Tokyo Stock Exchange, out of 33 industry groups, all but two saw declines. Only steelmakers and energy companies experienced slight gains of 0.36% and 0.6%, respectively. Overall, of more than 1,600 stocks on the TSE’s prime market, only 19% went up, while 77% fell, and 3% stayed the same.
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