Tokyo stocks closed lower on Thursday despite a stellar performance from telecoms and investment firm Softbank Group, which shot up nearly 18 percent after a huge buyback of its shares. “Following falls in US shares, profit-taking led the trade” in Tokyo, Yoshihiro Ito, chief strategist at Okasan Online Securities, said in a note. The dollar fetched 109.98 yen, against 109.97 yen in New York. Toyota fell 1.90 percent to 6,575 yen, Honda was off 1.08 percent at 3,002 yen and Nissan finished down 0.23 percent at 928 yen. Concerns that Japanese carmakers are lagging behind their global competitors in the shift to electric vehicles from hybrid cars is also impacting their stocks, Kubota added.

Source: The Guardian February 07, 2019 06:45 UTC