Japan Stocks fall as trade surplus dives 99% in March

Stocks in Japan market declined on Monday, 20 April 2020, as investors elected to book profit after sharp rallies last week on hopes for a phased reopening of the US economy, with investor focus now on the number of domestic virus cases. Meanwhile, selloff fuelled further after official data showed Japan's trade surplus dived 99% in March from a year earlier as coronavirus woes hit exports to its major trading partners. Around late afternoon, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average dropped 225.65 points, or 1.13%, to 19,8671.61. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange declined 9.12 points, or 0.63%, at 1,433.42.

More than two third issues of 33 industry category of Topix index were in negative territory, with Insurance, Precision Instruments, Construction, Warehousing & Harbor Transportation Services, Electric Appliances, and Pharmaceutical issues being notable losers, while Banks, Securities & Commodities Futures, and Other Financial Business issues were notable gainers.

Japan's COVID-19 infections broke 10,800 on Monday just days after a nationwide state of emergency was declared. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a state of emergency last Thursday for all 47 prefectures and asked the public to reduce person-to-person contact by 70 to 80% to contain the pandemic.

Coronavirus developments likely also continued to be watched, with more than 2.3 million infected globally while at least 164,000 lives have been taken, according to data compiled by John Hopkins University.

The global economy is expected to shrink 3% in 2020 in a collapse of activity that would mark the steepest downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s, the International Monetary Fund said last week.

On the economic news front, Japan's trade surplus came in at 4.9 billion yen ($45.5 million), less than one% of the year-before figure of 517 billion yen, according to the Finance Ministry data showed on Monday. Overall, exports fell 11.7%, with U.S.-bound shipments tumbling 16.5% and shipments to China falling 8.7%. Exports to the European Union fell 11.1%. Japan's imports from the rest of the world fell 5% as imports from China declined 4.5% and those from the EU fell 9.7%. Imports from the United States rose 1.3%, supported by purchases of aircraft, medical supplies and liquefied natural gas.

CURRENCY: The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 99.858 after crossing the 100 mark last week. The Japanese yen traded at 107.82 per dollar after touching levels below 107.4 in the previous trading week.

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