Japan Nikkei tumbles on profit booking

Headline equities of the Japan market declined on Thursday, 27 September 2018, as investors opted withdrawing profit off the table following recent gains and as weak cues from Wall Street overnight after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates as expected for the third time this year and forecasted another rate hike by end 2018 and predicted that it will continue to tighten credit into 2020 to manage growth and inflation. However, market losses were limited after US President Donald Trump and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced an agreement to start negotiations on a trade deal Wednesday in New York, after talks on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. Total 31 issues out of 33 TSE index declined, with shares of Oil & Coal Products, Nonferrous Metals, Electric Appliances, Construction, Services, Glass & Ceramics Products, Machinery, and Real Estate issues being notable losers. The 225-issue Nikkei average lost 0.99% or 237.05 points to close at 23,796.74. The Topix index of all first-section issues was down 1.18% or 21.56 points at 1,800.11.

Shares of major exporters were mostly lower on a stronger yen. The dollar fetched 112.64 yen in Asian afternoon trade, compared to 112.74 yen in New York and 112.89 yen in Tokyo on Wednesday. Panasonic fell 0.4%, Mitsubishi Electric 0.2% and Canon 0.3%, while Sony rose 0.3%. Among automakers, Subaru jumped 2.62% and Mazda rose 0.44%, but Toyota lost 0.31%.

Shares in the banks lost ground, with Mitsubishi UFJ down 1.54% and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial off 1.06%.

CURRENCY NEWS: Japanese yen was tad higher against greenback and other major currencies on Thursday, after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates. The Fed raised its target overnight rate by 25-basis points to a range of 2% to 2.25%, up from 1.75% to 2%. The statement said the Fed still foresees another rate hike in December, three more next year, and one increase in 2020. The dollar fetched 112.64 yen in Asian afternoon trade, compared to 112.74 yen in New York and 112.89 yen in Tokyo on Wednesday.

OFFSHORE MARKET NEWS, US stock market closed down on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 106.93 points or 0.4% to 26,385.28, the Nasdaq dipped 17.10 points or 0.2% to 7,990.37 and the S&P 500 fell 9.59 points or 0.3% to 2,905.97.

The major European markets ended higher on Wednesday. The German DAX Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both inched up by 0.1%, while the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.6%.

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