Japan Stocks fall on profit booking

Japan shares finished session lower on Friday, 13 November 2020, with the benchmark Nikkei stock index snapping an eight-day winning streak, as profit-taking triggered following the market's recent rise and concerns about rising COVID-19 infections both at home and abroad.

At closing bell, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average declined 135.01 points, or 0.53%, to 25,385.87. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange declined 23.01 points, or 1.33%, to 1,703.22. For the week, the Nikkei index gained 4.36%.

Investors continue to monitor the coronavirus situation in the U.S., as daily new cases of the virus continued to rise in the country, setting fresh records. Daily US Covid-19 infections surged above 100,000 for an eighth consecutive day, and investors weighed the timeline for the mass rollout of an effective virus vaccine. Japan reported a record high of 1,634 new cases on Thursday

 

All but one of the 33 sector sub-indexes on the Tokyo exchange ended lower. Airlines dropped nearly 3.6% as investors worried that another spike in virus cases could lead to renewed movement restrictions.ANA Holdings slipped 4.8% and Japan Airlines lost 1.92%.

Land transport also took a hit, with railroad companies such as Kintetsu Group Holdings, Sotetsu Holdings and Central Japan Railway Co down between 3.6% and 6.8%. Some stay-at-home stocks were bought instead, with Nintendo and Sony Corp rising 1.08% and 1.81%, respectively.

CURRENCY NEWS: The Japanese yen traded at 105.05 per dollar, having weakened steeply from levels below 104.3 against the greenback earlier in the trading week.

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