Japan’s Nikkei closed lower, following Wall Street

Japan’s Nikkei closed lower on Thursday, retreating from its highest level in nearly two months, as the benchmark tracked the weak performance on Wall Street after investors had long been wary of higher US interest rates.

The earnings season witnessed a mixture of winners and losers among the major companies. Teijin and Pacific Metal shares scored nearly 6 percent each after strong quarterly earnings, while Fujifilm fell 2.38 percent.

The Nikkei index ended trading down 0.08 percent to 27,584.35 points, but hovering above the 27,500 level it hit in late January.

The broader Topix index rose 0.05% to 1985.00.

The three major US stock indices fell on Wednesday night, led by technology-heavy Nasdaq, as a group of Federal Reserve spokespeople endorsed the idea of more interest rate increases and higher rates continuing for a longer period.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor index fell 2.2 percent.

The decline also hurt Japanese stocks linked to chips. Chipmaking equipment Tokyo Electron fell 2.14 percent, stripping 34 points from the Nikkei index, making it the biggest loser on the index. It was followed by Advantest, a maker of chip testing equipment, that fell 1.18 percent.

Toyota Motor rose 0.18 percent, reversing early losses, after the company reported a surprising 22 percent increase in operating profit for the third quarter.