TOKYO: Tokyo stocks fell 0.13 percent on Wednesday morning, taking a soft lead from Wall Street after disappointing data on US housing and consumer confidence. The Nikkei-225 index was down 19.93 points at 15,031.67 by the break, while the Topix index of all first section shares fell 0.36 percent, or 4.39 points, to 1,229.27. In the United States, the Case-Shiller index for home prices in 20 leading US cities fell 0.1 percent on December, the second straight monthly decline, while the Conference Board said its consumer confidence index fell to 78.1 in February from 79.4 in January.
On Wall Street, the Dow slipped 0.17 percent; the S&P 500 fell 0.13 percent, and the Nasdaq gave up 0.13 percent. However, the Nikkei's losses are likely limited as long as the dollar stays around current levels against the yen, Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management, said. The dollar edged up to 102.35 yen early Wednesday from 102.22 yen in New York Tuesday afternoon. The euro, which was helped by upward revisions to growth forecasts for the European Union on Tuesday, bought $1.3745 and 140.38 yen compared with $1.3744 and 140.49 yen in US trade. A weak yen is positive for Japanese exporters as it makes them more competitive abroad and inflates profits when repatriated.
In Tokyo, Panasonic jumped 5.35 percent to 1,260 yen following news reports that it and California-based electric-vehicle venture Tesla Motors are in talks to build an automotive battery plant in the United States. Honda rose 0.59 percent to 3,732 yen on news reports that it plans to end the production of Insight, the company's first hybrid vehicle, at the end of February. Toyota slipped 1.15 percent to 5,921 yen while Nissan fell 0.87 percent to 912 yen.
(With inputs from Dow Jones Newswires)
