Tuesday 07th December, 03:18 PM JST
TOKYO —
Stocks fell slightly Tuesday, pressured by profit-taking on a strong yen against the dollar, and concern about further monetary tightening in China. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average dropped 26.13 points from Monday to 10,141.10. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange fell 2.31 points to 879.10.
Market players booked profits from recent gains, with export-linked shares such as automakers and high-tech companies trading lower. The dollar was trading around the mid-82 yen line, and the euro was trading in the lower 110 yen range when the stock market closed. Speculation that China may raise its interest rate soon sent Chinese stocks lower earlier in the day and weighed on investor sentiment, brokers said.
‘‘Export-linked shares saw losses after the yen rose, but they didn’t fall sharply because we’ve seen the dollar trading in the 82 yen range before. There is a little bit of disappointment as the Nikkei failed to cross 10,250 decisively earlier,’’ said Masatoshi Sato, senior strategist at Mizuho Investors Securities Co.
‘‘It may be difficult to gain further from here if (U.S.) economic data from now are weak, because (Federal Reserve Chairman Ben) Bernanke did not rule out further monetary easing. We cannot say that concern about a weaker dollar against the yen has been cast aside completely,’’ Sato added.
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