Japan Market tumbles on soft offshore lead

Japan share market finished session lower on Thursday, 28 January 2021, as profit-taking pressure triggered on tracking weak lead from Wall Street overnight. At closing bell, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average stumbled 437.79 points, or 1.53%, to 28,197.42. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange dropped 21.22 points, or 1.14%, to 1,838.85.

Stocks in the semiconductor sector, such as testing device manufacturer Advantest and production equipment-maker Tokyo Electron, were hit by a plunge in the SOX Philadelphia semiconductor index. Other major loses included medical information provider M3 and air conditioner-maker Daikin.

On the other hand, electronic parts maker NOK rocketed 14.9% thanks to upward revisions to its earnings forecasts for the year through March. Rakuten surged 7.5% following media reports that payments with its credit cards reached 11 trillion yen in 2020.

ECONOMIC NEWS: Japan Retail Sales Down 0.3% On Year In December- Japan retail sales was down 0.3% on year in December coming in at 14.434 trillion yen, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said on Thursday, following the downwardly revised 0.6% increase in November (originally 0.7%). On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, retail sales sank 0.8% after sliding a downwardly revised 2.1% in November (originally -2.0%). For the fourth quarter of 2020, retail sales were up 2.0% on year and 0.2% on quarter at 39.431 trillion yen. For all of 2020, retail sales were down 3.3% at 146.438 trillion yen.

CURRENCY NEWS: The Japanese yen traded at 104.30 per dollar after weakening from levels below 103.8 against the greenback yesterday.

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