Tokyo: Tokyo stocks opened lower Friday afer a string of gains this week, with investors seeming cautious ahead of potentially contentious G7 talks and a historic US-North Korea summit.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which has closed up for four consecutive days, slipped 0.07 percent or 15.34 points to 22,807.92 in early trade while the broader Topix index was down 0.22 percent or 3.95 points at 1,785.06.
“Tokyo stocks will likely move narrowly after opening lower,” SBI Securities in a commentary.
“A wait-and-see mood is likely to spread as it is difficult to take positions actively as investors wait for the outcome of the G7 meeting in Canada (this weekend) and the US-North Korea summit on Tuesday,” it said.
The dollar was trading at 109.72 yen against 109.73 yen in New York Thursday afternoon.
Market players largely shrugged off Japanese data that confirmed the world’s third largest economy slid into negative territory for the first time in two years at the beginning of the year.
Honda climbed 0.48 percent to 3,553 yen after the Japanese carmaker announced it would team up with US auto giant General Motors to develop next-generation battery components for electric vehicles.
Toyota was down 0.34 percent to 7,501 yen and Nissan lost 0.45 percent to 1,098 yen.
Banks were also lower with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial down 0.64 percent at 677.9 yen.
AFP