SYDNEY (Reuters) – Japanese stocks closed lower on Thursday, although Wall Street stocks rose sharply, as investors worried about the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Japanese corporate earnings.
The benchmark Nikkei fell 0.04 percent to 19,345.77 points, despite a big rise in Wall Street on Wednesday.
The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index advanced 3.4 percent each, while the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 2.6 percent, thanks to hopes that the pandemic may have begun to decline and Bernie Sanders’ decision to suspend his campaign.
Peak Camera shares fell 8.6 percent after the electronics retailer lowered its forecast for the group’s earnings in the current fiscal year that ends in August, due to the impact of the virus.
SoftBank Group added 1.1 percent after Oyo Hotels and Homes, an Indian startup backed by SoftBank, said it had given some employees a cost-cutting leave to tackle the Corona pandemic.
Nissan Motor shares rose 1.4 percent after the Nikkei newspaper said the automaker had requested a 500 billion yen pledge line from major banks as sales were hit by the spread of Covid-19.
The broader Topix index fell 0.6 percent to 1,416.98 points, while all 33 sub-sector indices fell on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Road transport, securities and food sectors were the worst performers on the main stock exchange.