Staff of Reuters Read for 2 minutes Reuters, TOKYO, June 29 – As outbreaks of the highly contagious COVID-19 variant Delta stoked concerns about a barrier to global economic recovery, Japanese stocks fell on Tuesday, with weaker cyclical equities outweighing gains in technology firms. The Nikkei stock average dropped 0.81 percent to 28,812.61, while the Topix index dropped 0.82 percent to 1,949.48. “Following losses in the Dow and European markets, investors are selling Japanese cyclical stocks. The market is not taking benefit of the Nasdaq’s strong finish overnight since Japan lacks stocks that are comparable to GAFA (giant tech) shares “Soichiro Matsumoto, Credit Suisse Private Banking’s top investment officer for Japan, stated. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 indexes both set new highs overnight, led by large tech firms such as Facebook Inc and Amazon.com Inc, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was dragged down by cyclicals. “There are also concerns about the COVID-19 variant’s dissemination. Because Japan is hosting the Olympics, the country’s economic prospects are particularly grim, and its impact on the pandemic is uncertain.” While unvaccinated Britons were subjected to new restrictions in Spain and Portugal, 80 percent of Australians were subjected to stricter restrictions as the virus spread across the country. Two arriving athletes in Tokyo, the host city for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, have tested positive for COVID-19. Pandemic fears weighed on cyclical stocks including steelmakers, with Nippon Steel falling 3.8 percent. Takashimaya, a department store chain, fell 4.7 percent, while Isetan Mitsukoshi fell 3.2 percent. Inpex, an oil exploration company, fell 4.7 percent overnight as oil prices fell on concerns about slowing fuel demand growth. By a four-to-one ratio, decliners outnumbered advancers. Shimamura rose 4.8 percent as the casual clothes retailer announced a profit in the three months ending in May, compared to a loss a year ago. (Junko Fujita and Hideyuki Sano contributed reporting; Uttaresh.V and Rashmi Aich edited the piece.) Continue reading
