Japan Stocks fall on profit booking; eyes on US-China trade talks and Fed meeting

Headline equities of the Japan share market fell into negative territory on Monday, 28 January 2019, as market players secure profits from recent gains due to comparatively firm yen against the U.S. dollar dented and on caution before corporate results by major companies. Market losses were however, capped as investors were heartened by news Washington would temporarily end the longest US government shutdown in history. President Donald Trump confirmed he and lawmakers had agreed to a three-week stop-gap spending plan to reopen the government. Most of TOPIX sub indices fell into red terrain, with shares in Electric Power & Gas, Insurance, Marine Transportation, Construction, Information & Communication, and Iron & Steel issues being notable losers. In late afternoon trade, the 225-issue Nikkei index fell 79.66 points, or 0.4%, at 20,693.90. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange dropped 5.48 points, or 0.35%, to 1,560.62.

Facing mounting pressure, U.S. President Donald Trump agreed on Friday to temporarily end a 35-day-old partial US government shutdown without getting the $5.7 billion he had demanded from Congress for a border wall.

Globally, all eyes will be on the monthly two-day US Federal Reserve meeting on monetary starting Tuesday and US-China trade talks in Washington mid-week and the release of a backlog of economic data held up by the 35-day government shutdown. While the Fed meeting is expected to end with no change to US interest rate policy, market experts will be scanning the commentary for cues about the state of the economy and the prospect of an end to the current tightening cycle.

CURRENCY NEWS: Japanese yen was little changed against greenback and other major currencies on Monday. The dollar was slightly lower at 109.48 yen following mild losses at the end of last week.

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