Japanese Nikkei index is falling affected by weak profits in tech

Japan’s Nikkei fell on Wednesday amid heavy selling in stocks of major technology companies such as Nintendo and SoftBank Group after disappointing financial results, dashing any hopes of capitalizing on Tuesday night’s gains on Wall Street.

Investment group SoftBank fell 5.1% after posting a quarterly loss, while video game maker Nintendo fell 7.5% after cutting profit forecasts.

Shares in electronics maker Sharp fell 12.6 percent, becoming the biggest loser on the Nikkei index by a wide margin, after it failed to record expected profits.

The Nikkei index fell 0.3 percent to close at 27,606.46 points, after starting the day with slight gains on the back of strong gains for all three major US stock indices.

Meanwhile, the broader Topix index ended the session at 1983.97 points, having risen to 1991.49 points early for the first time since December 1, before slipping into the red zone.

The number of gainers was almost equal with the losers on the Nikkei index, as 106 stocks rose out of a total of 225 stocks, and 114 stocks fell, while five closed unchanged.