Japan shares slip for third day; all eyes on U.S. stimulus debate

  • Reuters
  • Stock Market News
Japan shares slip for third day; all eyes on U.S. stimulus debate
Credit: © Reuters.

TOKYO, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Japanese shares ended lower for the third straight session on Tuesday, as a month-long rally ran out of gas, with investors awaiting U.S. lawmakers' decision on a fresh COVID-19 pandemic relief package.

The Nikkei share average .N225 lost 0.30% to close at 26,467.08. The broader Topix .TOPX shed 0.11% to 1,758.81, after touching its lowest since Nov. 20 earlier in the session.

The U.S. Congress will vote this week on a one-week stopgap funding bill to provide more time for lawmakers to reach a deal on coronavirus relief and an overarching spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. will compile a fresh 73.6 trillion yen ($708 billion) economic stimulus package to speed up the country's recovery from its deep coronavirus slump, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said. sentiment remained upbeat as investors expect the global economic recovery to continue, with COVID-19 vaccines look set to be rolled out soon and stimulate consumption worldwide.

"The global manufacturing cycle is about to enter an expansion phase from contraction. For value shares, including a lot of Japanese shares, that is the phase when they historically performed the best," said Shusuke Yamada, chief Japan FX and equity strategist at Bank of America (NYSE: BAC ).

Hydrogen product maker Iwatani 8088.T jumped 10.3% after the Nikkei business daily reported that Japan was likely to set a target to expand the use of hydrogen to 10 million tonne by 2030 to meet its emission goal. House 1928.T rose 4.3% after the housing maker's earnings beat estimates. tech-related shares gained, with Keyence 6861.T rising 2.1%, while Nintendo 7974.T and Murata Manufacturing 6981.T rising 1.1% and 0.5%, respectively.

Drugmakers underperformed, with Daiichi Sankyo 4568.T and Astellas Pharma 4503.T losing 3.2% and 2.0%, respectively.

The index of Mothers start-up market .MTHR managed to bounce back to end 1.4% higher, after briefly falling below its 100-day moving average for the first time since late April.

Add Chart to Comment

Comment Guidelines

We encourage you to use comments to engage with users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind: 

  • Enrich the conversation
  • Stay focused and on track. Only post material that’s relevant to the topic being discussed.
  • Be respectful. Even negative opinions can be framed positively and diplomatically.
  •  Use standard writing style. Include punctuation and upper and lower cases.
  • NOTE: Spam and/or promotional messages and links within a comment will be removed
  • Avoid profanity, slander or personal attacks directed at an author or another user.
  • Don’t Monopolize the Conversation. We appreciate passion and conviction, but we also believe strongly in giving everyone a chance to air their thoughts. Therefore, in addition to civil interaction, we expect commenters to offer their opinions succinctly and thoughtfully, but not so repeatedly that others are annoyed or offended. If we receive complaints about individuals who take over a thread or forum, we reserve the right to ban them from the site, without recourse.
  • Only English comments will be allowed.

Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.

Drop an image here or Supported formats: *.jpg, *.png, *.gif up to 5mb

Error: File type not supported

Drop an image here or

100
Please try another search