Tokyo (The Hawk): As investors choose to take profits before the announcement of US inflation data, which is viewed as a gauge for the future trajectory of the US Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes, the benchmark Nikkei stock index of Japan finished lower on Wednesday.
The Nikkei Stock Average, which has 225 issues, dropped 155.68 points, or 0.56 percent, from Tuesday to end the day at 27,716.43, according to the Xinhua news agency.
In contrast, the larger Topix index lost 8.07 points, or 0.41 percent, to close at 1,949.49.
Dealers in this city claimed that investors preferred profits over pursuing the market higher since the Fed's decision to raise interest rates will be influenced by the release of inflation data in the United States in the near future.
Investors have adopted a wait-and-see attitude before the CPI, according to Takuro Hayashi of IwaiCosmo Securities.
According to Hayashi, "buying is still going on for chip-related shares and companies reporting positive earnings, so the market backdrop isn't too awful."
Brokers added that investors also exhibited a wait-and-see attitude in anticipation of the results of the U.S. midterm elections.
Toshikazu Horiuchi, an equities strategist at IwaiCosmo Securities Co., was reported as stating, "Following a buying binge, investors sold shares to lock in profits before the election results come out later in the day."
By game's end, the topics that decreased the most included mining, oil and coal products, and air transportation.
The Nikkei's largest loser was electric car battery maker GS Yuasa, which sank 7.4% after posting weaker-than-expected results, while Nintendo dropped 7.1% after lowering its sales projection for its Switch game systems.
Tokyo Electron, a manufacturer of chip-making equipment, was the Nikkei's top gainer with a gain of 1.6 percent, while Suzuki Motor advanced by 3.5 percent following an upward revision to its earnings prediction for the fiscal year through March.
By 880 to 865, issues that increased outnumbered those that decreased, and 92 issues concluded the day unchanged.
1,281.77 million shares were traded on the Prime Market on Wednesday, down from 1,344.69 million shares on Tuesday.
On the third trading day of the week, there was a 3,391.54 billion yen turnover (23.32 billion U.S. dollars)
(Inputs from Agencies)
