Tokyo stocks close lower, extending US falls

Tokyo stocks closed lower on Tuesday after Wall Street stocks slumped on worries about China’s zero-Covid policy, AFP reported.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index ended down 0.48 percent, or 134.99 points, at 28,027.84, while the broader Topix index slipped 0.57 percent, or 11.34 points, to 1,992.97.
Investors are also shifting their attention to a speech by US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell this week, Mizuho Securities said in a note.
After early sell-offs following losses on Wall Street, “a wait-and-see attitude was likely to grow” ahead of Powell’s speech, the brokerage said.
The dollar fetched 138.52 yen in Asian trade, against 138.87 yen in New York late Monday.
Sony Group lost 1.22 percent to 11,370 yen, SoftBank Group fell 1.37 percent to 5,959 yen, and Toyota closed down 1.35 percent at 2,005.5 yen.
Pharmaceutical company Eisai plunged 6.22 percent to 8,988 yen after a report said a woman had died in a trial of the firm’s Alzheimer’s treatment.
Japan’s jobless rate stood at 2.6 percent in October, unchanged from the previous month, official data released before the opening bell showed.
The data did not prompt a strong market reaction.