Japan’s Nikkei index ends trading down 0.27%

Japanese stocks fell at the end of trading on Wednesday, as trade risks returned to the forefront after talk of high US tariffs on cars, chips and medicines.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange reported that Japan’s Nikkei index, which includes 225 issues, ended today’s session down 0.27%, or 105.79 points, to reach 39,164.61 points, while the broader Topix index closed down 0.30%, or 8.26 points, to close at 2,767.25 points.

This comes amid a wave of turmoil that hit Asian markets after US President Donald Trump announced his intention to impose tariffs starting from 25 percent on imports of cars, chips and medicines to the United States.

On another note, Japan’s trade balance turned into a deficit, the largest in two years, at 2.76 trillion yen ($18.2 billion) in January, compared to a surplus of 132 billion yen in December.

Economic data showed that Japanese imports rose 16.7 percent to 10.62 trillion yen, or about $70 billion, while exports grew 7.2 percent to 7.86 trillion yen, or about $52 billion only.

As for the exchange rate, the US currency fell against its Japanese counterpart by about 0.24 percent to 151.65 yen in morning trading.