Japanese stocks fall, but Wall Street’s recovery limits losses

Japan’s Nikkei fell for the second day in a row on Tuesday, but avoided bigger losses as investors started buying back shares in hopes of higher prices after US stocks rebounded Monday night.

The index closed down 0.58 percent to 26,167.10 points, after trimming its losses in overnight trading, supported by the rise in US stocks.

The Nikkei index fell to the level of 25773.83 points for the first time since mid-March in the morning, affected by intense selling on Wall Street last night, especially for shares of technology companies.

The broader Topix index fell 0.85 percent to 1,862.38 points.

Technology stocks were the biggest loser on the Nikkei index, as the decline in NTT Data, Tokyo Electron, Advantest, SoftBank and Sony combined reduced the index by nearly 100 points.

The utilities sub-index was the only one to rise today as it did on Monday.

Shares of 139 companies fell, and shares of 83 of the 220 companies listed on the Nikkei index rose.