Tokyo's Nikkei index ends lower on profit-taking

Tokyo's key Nikkei index gave up earlier gains and ended lower as investors locked in profit while searching for fresh cues.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index slipped 0.11 percent, or 30.80 points, to 27,899.77, while the broader Topix index only just remained in the black, inching up 0.04 percent, or 0.75 points, to 1,967.03. Shares enjoyed a healthy ascent in the morning as investors cheered the gains of the US Semiconductor Sector Index, despite falls in major Wall Street indices.

But lingering concerns over the speed and scale of US rate hikes, which investors fear could trigger a recession, continued to weigh on the market. "Worries over US tightening prompted sales among profit-takers, driving down the market," Daiwa Securities said.

The dollar stood at 139.91 yen in Asian trade, hovering near 140.20 yen in New York on Thursday.

The Japanese government said that core consumer prices rose 3.6 percent year-on-year in October, the highest level in four decades due largely to rising energy costs and a weak yen.

Sony Group trimmed gains and ended higher by 0.22 percent to 11,220 yen. Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing fell 0.12 percent to 82,360 yen.

Nintendo rose 0.70 percent to 5,920 yen. Semiconductor-making equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron fell 0.98 percent, erasing gains seen in the morning.

But chip-testing equipment maker Advantest added 0.56 percent to 8,990 yen. Toyota ended down 0.03 percent to 1,993 yen. Nissan managed to keep its gains and ended up 1.96 percent to 498.4 yen. Japan's economy shrank in the three months to September, official data showed Tuesday, due to high import costs and weak private consumption despite the end of Covid-19 restrictions.

It follows three consecutive quarters of growth, after an initial negative reading in the first quarter was revised upwards. Corporate investment was up in the period but private residential investment declined, while an increase in import costs overwhelmed an increase in exports, the cabinet office said.

The world's third-largest economy contracted 0.3 percent quarter-on-quarter, missing market expectations of 0.3 percent growth, the data showed.

Analysts had predicted a pick-up in consumption, but acknowledged ahead of the data release that Japan faced headwinds from its trade situation, with sky-high prices for commodities such as oil pushing up import costs.

A slower global economy, which is "is likely to be dragged down by tightening in monetary policy, zero-Covid policy in China and geopolitical uncertainties," is also a negative factor for Japan, UBS economists Masamichi Adachi and Go Kurihara said.

"On top of these factors, the secular drag from a shrinking and aging population and low medium-to-longterm growth expectations cannot be ignored," they added.

Last month, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced a $260 billion stimulus package to cushion the economy from the impact of inflation and the weak yen.

The Japanese currency has tumbled from about 115 against the dollar before Russia's invasion of Ukraine to around 140 on Tuesday, although it has retreated from recent multi-decade lows of less than 151 yen.

President Nana Akufo-Addo on Monday fired Ghana's junior finance minister over corruption allegations made in an upcoming documentary on illegal gold mining.

The president has "terminated the appointment of the Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance, Mr Charles Adu Boahen, with immediate effect," he said in a statement.

The fallout from the expose comes as the government is under pressure over Ghana's economic crisis and lawmakers push Akufo-Addo to fire Finance Minister Kenneth Ofori-Atta.