Japan Nikkei falls on profit booking

28 Mar 2022 , 01:50 PM

Japan share market finished session lower on Monday, 28 March 2022, snapping the nine-session winning streak, as investors opted to book recent profit after the benchmark Nikkei index rose about 3,000 points over nine trading days through Friday.

Meanwhile, selloff was also fueled due to lingering geopolitical situation amid the escalation of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis and the increasing sanctions on Russia.

Also dampening sentiments were hawkish policy stance by the Federal Reserve and concerns over the Chinese economy after Shanghai came under a lockdown due to rising COVID-19 infections.

At closing bell, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average declined by 205.95 points, or 0.73%, to 27,943.89. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange fell 8.10 points, or 0.41%, to 1,973.37.

Among individual shares, Fast Retailing declined on concerns over the impact of the Shanghai lockdown on its sales.

SoftBank Group shares closed down after reports that the investment and technology conglomerate will seek loans worth up to $10 billion from Japanese and foreign banks by putting up shares in British chip design subsidiary Arm Ltd. as collateral.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial was up after a report that three major Japanese banks will stop dollar-denominated transactions with Russias largest bank in line with US sanctions on Moscow.

CURRENCY NEWS: The Japanese yen depreciated to upper 122-range against greenback on Monday, on expectations the interest rate gap between the United States and Japan will widen as the Federal Reserve has hinted at more aggressive interest rate hikes to tackle inflation. At 5 p.m., dollar fetched 122.90-91 yen compared with 122.05-15 yen in New York and 121.73-75 yen in Tokyo at 5 p.m. Friday.

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