Staff of Reuters Read for 2 minutes (Reuters) – TOKYO, July 1 (Reuters) – Concerns that a resurgence of COVID-19 infections would lead to the extension of restrictions and a slowing of the economic recovery weighed heavily on Japanese stocks on Thursday. The Nikkei 225 index dipped 0.29 percent to 28,707.04, while the Topix index fell 0.22 percent to 1,939.21. As illness counts rise less than a month before the Summer Olympics, Japan is likely to prolong coronavirus containment measures in the greater Tokyo area by two weeks or more. “Investors are hedging their bets because they are concerned about a coronavirus recurrence,” said Shoichi Arisawa, general manager of IwaiCosmo Securities’ investment research department. “Shares that gained speed in the previous month on the anticipation of an economic revival are now losing steam. However, some investors are buying equities that are undervalued in comparison to their US counterparts, which is restraining falls.” SoftBank Group, a start-up investor, fell 0.63 percent, Advantest, a chip manufacturing equipment maker, down 1.8 percent, and Terumo, a medical equipment producer, fell 1.53 percent on the Nikkei. With Kawasaki Kisen down 4.63 percent, Mitsui OSK Lines down 3.93 percent, and Nippon Yusen down 3.73 percent, the sea transport sector was the biggest loss among the 33 sector sub-indices on the Tokyo exchange. Nitori, a retailer of furniture and home renovation supplies, surged 2.14 percent after reporting a record quarterly net profit. Shin-Etsu Chemical was the highest gainer among the top 30 core Topix firms, rising 1.32 percent, followed by Sony Group, which jumped 1.16 percent. The largest loser on the Topix 30 was Seven & I Holdings Co Ltd, which fell 1.51%, followed by Mitsui & Co, which sank 1.28 percent. On the Nikkei index, there were 87 advancers and 127 decliners. The Mothers Index of start-up firm shares plummeted 0.6 percent, while the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s second section index dipped 0.41 percent. (Junko Fujita contributed reporting; Aditya Soni and Subhranshu Sahu edited the piece.)/nRead More