Japan stocks fall on virus woes, but M&As lift some industrials

  • Reuters
  • Stock Market News
Japan stocks fall on virus woes, but M&As lift some industrials
Credit: © Reuters.

By Stanley White

TOKYO, April 8 (Reuters) - Japanese stocks fell on Thursday as concerns about a spike in domestic coronavirus infections and a potential return of restrictions on economic activity prompted investors to lock in profit on recent gains.

The Nikkei 225 Index .N225 was down 0.38% at 29,618.93, as of 0203 GMT, while the broader Topix .TOPX declined 0.85% to 1,950.57.

The governor of Tokyo is considering adopting emergency measures in response to a sudden increase in coronavirus infections and the spread of a new variant of the virus, according to domestic media.

The western city of Osaka is also set to declare a medical emergency after its number of new infections rose to a record high, which has sparked alarm among public health officials. operating hours for restaurants and shops intended to slow the infection rate could hamper economic growth. In addition, more analysts are starting to express concern about Japan's slow pace of vaccination against the coronavirus.

"Japanese equities may slow down relative to other markets," Masayuki Kichikawa, chief macro strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management Co said.

"Markets are placing a lot of emphasis on the size of fiscal stimulus and the vaccination rate. More restrictions would be a negative factor because that would delay a recovery in services consumption."

The underperformers among the Topix 30 were Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd 4502.T down 2.85%, followed by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc 8306.T losing 2.41%.

In the positive territory, Hitachi Metals Ltd 5486.T rose 4.36% after the Nikkei newspaper reported that a group led by Bain Capital has emerged as the preferential bidder for a 53% stake in the company worth around $7.3 billion. in parent company Hitachi Ltd 6501.T fell 1.03%.

Toshiba Corp 6502.T rose 1.21% a day after receiving a $20 billion offer from CVC Capital Partners to take it private. In the previous session, Toshiba's shares surged by their daily limit to the highest in more than four years.

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