Nikki gives up its gains, turns into a loss at the end of the session

Japanese stocks fell at the end of today’s trading after recording gains at the beginning of the session, ahead of the Japanese Central Bank’s monetary policy meeting.

At the end of the session, the Japanese Nikkei index fell by about 0.4% to 38,720 points, after rising to the highest levels of 39,000 points earlier in trading. The broader Topix index also gave up its early gains, closing down 0.9% at 2,731 points.

Of the 225 stocks listed on the Nikkei index, 44 stocks rose and 181 stocks declined.

The shares of Advantest, a manufacturer of chip testing equipment, rose 1.5% to provide the largest support to the Nikkei index, tracking the gains achieved by the US semiconductor index last night.

On the other hand, Tokyo Electron chip manufacturing equipment company shares fell 1.7%, being the biggest losers on the Nikkei index. Toyota Motor shares fell 2.5% and were the biggest losers on the Topix index, while Mitsubishi shares fell 2.5%.