Xinhua
26 Oct 2020, 16:35 GMT+10
TOKYO, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks closed marginally lower on Monday as concerns over COVID-19 resurgences in Europe and the United States outweighed hopes for domestic firms' earnings this week.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average shed 22.25 points, or 0.09 percent, from Friday to close the day at 23,494.34.
The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, lost 6.34 points, or 0.39 percent, to finish at 1,618.98.
Despite advancing in early trade gains were lost and then reversed throughout the day as initial optimism over corporate earnings gave way to concerns over the pace of the global economic recovery from the pandemic amid fresh spikes of COVID-19 cases in Europe and the United States, brokers here said.
Countries in Europe, including France, Spain and Britain have reissued curfews and other restrictions to combat the pandemic, market strategists here highlighted as dampening the mood, with the United States confirming 83,000 single-day cases on consecutive days through Saturday, adding to sentiment diminishing.
"With Europe's economic activity data released last week showing a significant deterioration in its service sector, the trend for resuming business activities amid the infection spread in Europe has collapsed," Koichi Fujishiro, senior economist at the Dai-ichi Life Research Institute, was quoted as saying.
By the close of play, service, securities brokerage and consumer credit-oriented issues comprised those that declined the most.
Murata Manufacturing added 2.1 percent, after upwardly revising its net profit forecast for the six months ended Sept. 30, while Taiyo Yuden also closed in positive territory climbing 2.6 percent on hopes for a recovery in the electronics component sector.
ANA Holdings lost 1.1 percent, after reports stated the struggling carrier may axe 3,500 jobs by the 2022 business year, as part of a major restructuring initiative in the face of a record annual loss.
Shiseido, meanwhile, retreated 3.5 percent, owing mainly to investors opting to pocket gains after recent advances.
Issues that fell outpaced those that rose by 1,245 to 815 on the First Section, while 118 ended the day unchanged.
On the main section on Monday, 808.39 million shares changed hands, dropping from Friday's volume of 967.67 million shares.
The turnover on the first trading day of the week came to 1.592 trillion yen (15.179 billion U.S. dollars).
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