Tokyo stocks end lower as ‘Trump rally’ fizzles

TOKYO: Tokyo stocks ended lower Tuesday as markets took a breather following a string of recent gains that propelled the benchmark index to its highest level in 11 months.

Japanese shares advanced last week as the yen tumbled against the dollar on expectations that US interest rates will rise under President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.

“Japanese stocks have been having a good run on the Trump rally, but there’s a sense of needing to calm down a little,” said Mitsuo Shimizu, a deputy general manager at Japan Asia Securities Group Ltd.

“The market has been rising entirely on expectations, but US stocks are lower, the weakening yen has taken a breather and it’s difficult for Japanese stocks to keep rising on their own,” he told Bloomberg News.

A stronger yen can erode the profitability of Japanese exporters and often pushes the stock market lower.

The dollar was changing hands at 111.99 yen Tuesday, slightly up from 111.94 yen in New York on Monday afternoon and way higher than levels around 105 yen before the US election.

The Nikkei 225 fell 0.27 per cent, or 49.85 points, to close at 18,307.04, while the Topix index of all first-section issues edged down 0.07 per cent, or 1.01 points, to 1,468.57. — AFP

While developed economies have wallowed in lacklustre activity, Asia’s third- largest economy has maintained a resilient pace of expansion in recent years, eclipsing China.

That trend likely continued in the last quarter, according to the median consensus of 35 economists polled over the past week.

They forecast India’s nearly US$ 2 trillion economy expanded 7.5 per cent in July- September from the same period a year ago, accelerating from a 15- month low of 7.1 per cent in the previous quarter.

Forecasts ranged from 6.5 per cent to 8.7 per cent.

“We expect GDP growth to have recovered...supported by a rise in private consumption. Sharp revisions in central government employees’ salaries and pensions l ikely supported domest ic demand,” Sarah Hewin, chief economist at Standard Chartered, said in a note.

Privatesurveysshowed business activity at manufacturing and services firms accelerated during the three months to September as broadly steady prices helped drive a surge in domestic and foreign demand.

Cooling inf lation in recent months gave the Reserve Bank of India room to unexpectedly cut the benchmark repo rate by 25 basis points last month to 6.25 per cent, a six-year low. — Reuters