Japan: Market falls on Fed rate hike woes

Japan share market finished session lower on Wednesday, 15 February 2023, giving up some of the gains in the previous session, on tracking soft lead from Wall Street overnight, amid renewed concerns that the U.S. Federal Reserve will continue to raise interest rates for a long period after higher-than-expected U.S. inflation data.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average index fell 100.91 points, or 0.37%, to finish at 27,501.86. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was down 5.35 points, or 0.27%, to 1,987.74.

Total 24 of 33 TSE sectors were lower, with Services, Precision Instruments, Real Estate, Machinery, and Warehousing & Harbor Transportation Services issues being notable losers, while Insurance, Iron & Steel, Banks, and Glass & Ceramics Products issues were notable gainers.

Wall Street ended mixed Tuesday after inflation slowed to 6.4% in January from the previous month's 6.5%. That was down from June's three-decade high of 9.1% but hotter than the consensus expectation of 6.2%. Core inflation, which strips out more volatile food and energy prices to give a clearer view of the trend, rose to 0.4% over a month earlier from December's 0.3%.

Toshiba was down 1.7% at 4,410 yen after it said its operating profit for the October-December quarter declined due partly to weak sales in the electronic devices and storage solutions segment.

CURRENCY NEWS: Japanese yen depreciated to lower 133 level against greenback. The dollar stood at 133.26 yen in late Tokyo trading Wednesday, up 0.12% from 133.11 on Tuesday, after trading in the range of 132.55-133.50.

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