Japanese shares open lower on poor US market

Tokyo shares opened slightly lower on Wednesday as sentiment here was weighed down by poor performances in the overnight European and US stock markets.

In the morning session, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average lost 68.76 points, or 0.33 percent, from Tuesday to 20,485.71, Xinhua reported.

The broader Topix index of all first section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was down 5.78 points, or 0.35 percent, to 1,666.44.