Japanese shares track Wall Street losses after Fed meet minutes

Japanese stocks fell in tandem with their Asian counterparts on Thursday as investors analyzed the Federal Reserve meeting minutes, awaiting an upcoming seminar to assess whether the US central bank will ease its tight monetary policy.

The Japanese Nikkei index fell 0.91 percent at the open and hovered at this level during the day, closing down 0.96 percent at 28942.14 points.

The losses erased most of the gains made the previous day, when the index closed above the 29,000-point level for the first time since January. The index is still up about 4 percent during the week.

The broader Topix index also fell, losing 0.82%.

“If U.S. stocks bounce back, we’re expecting the Nikkei to trend upwards too,” said Masahiro Ichikawa, chief market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management.

“We’re hearing that a lot of people are awaiting [Fed chairman Jerome] Powell’s appearance at next week’s Jackson Hole symposium, so the sentiment may well be wait-and-see until then,” said another market participant at a domestic securities firm.

As many as 178 Nikkei stocks fell, while 43 gained and four were flat.

Technology shares broadly declined after the Nasdaq 100 ended down 1.21% overnight.

Z Holdings Corp, which owns Line and Yahoo Japan, lost 1.85%. Sony Group Corp was down 1.76%, and SoftBank Corp slipped 0.2%.

Automakers also made losses, with Toyota Motor Co falling 1.81%, Suzuki Motor dropping 1.06% and Honda Motor losing 0.87%.

Yamaha Corp made the biggest loss on the Nikkei, falling 2.51%.

Energy and utilities were the only two sectors to see overall gains.

The best performer was Nippon Sheet Glass Co Ltd, which rose 5.28%, building on a steady advance since its earnings report on Aug. 5. The glass manufacturer is up 45.22% so far this month.