Pedestrians wait at a signal in front of an electronic stock quotation board in Tokyo on November 2, 2018. – Tokyo stocks surged on November 2 on hopes of a potential breakthrough in the long-running US-China trade dispute, topping out a strong week. (Photo by JIJI PRESS / JIJI PRESS / AFP) / Japan OUT
Tokyo stocks closed lower as investors took profits at the last minute Wednesday after US midterm election results showed Democrats retaking control of the House of Representatives as projected.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which opened higher, was down 0.28 percent or 61.95 points to end at 22,085.80, while the broader Topix index fell 0.42 percent or 6.92 points to 1,652.43.
The dollar fetched 113.20 yen in Asian trade, against 113.46 yen in New York late Tuesday.
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“In the afternoon trade, shares were sold on profit-taking, after the Democrats were forecast to win the majority in the House of Representatives,” Yoshihiro Ito, chief strategist at Okasan Online Securities said in a commentary.
During the trading session, shares climbed as much as one percent as Democrats seized control of the House in a setback for Donald Trump.
However, Trump managed to avoid a feared “blue wave” as his Republican Party expanded its Senate majority, with the US president heralding the results as a “tremendous success”.
In Tokyo trading, Toyota edged up 0.13 percent to 6,639 yen after it upgraded its full-year forecast to 2.3 trillion yen from its earlier estimate of 2.12 trillion yen.
Its rival Nissan fell 1.11 percent to 1,021 yen ahead of its earnings report due Thursday.
Panasonic was up 0.16 percent at 1,181 yen and game giant Nintendo rose 1.83 percent to 35,990 yen.
Source: G Business
