Japan’s Nikkei ends lower on profit-taking and rate hike fears

TOKYO, June 8 (Xinhua News Agency) – Japan’s standard rises as investors choose to take more profits amid concerns about rising borrowing costs on central bank interest rate hikes and potential market overheating The underlying Nikkei stock index closed lower on Thursday.

The Nikkei Stock Average (225 stocks) fell 272.47 points (0.85%) from Wednesday to close at 31,641.27.

Meanwhile, the broader Topix index fell 14.80 points (0.67%) to close at 2,191.50.

Investors were eager to take profits after the market recently hit a 33-year high, with technical indicators pointing to a possible overheating, local brokerages said.

“Given the overheating of Japanese stocks, market participants are selling as they expect a significant decline in the coming days,” said Seiichi Suzuki, chief stock market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Economic Research Institute. rice field.

Analysts here also point to central banks in Australia and Canada opting to hike interest rates, and the US Federal Reserve is also keeping pace with inflation, despite the negative impact on the economy, such as higher borrowing rates. It raised the prospect that it may follow in the future.

Market strategists said the tech problem weighed on the market after the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell overnight.

As a result, Fujitsu fell 2.0% and online game company Nexon fell 6.6%.

Among high-capped chip stocks, Tokyo Electron fell 4.2% and Advantest fell 3.8%.

On the other hand, semiconductor maker Renesas Electronics closed 3.9% lower, and air conditioner maker Daikin Industries, Ltd., which has a large share of the market, fell 4.4%.

But Sharp was a notable winner, finishing 3.2% higher.

By the end of the game, precision equipment, information and communications, and real estate-related stocks fell the most.

The trading volume on the penultimate trading day of the prime market was 3.7169 trillion yen (US$26.58 billion).