Japan’s Nikkei erases early gains over earnings worries

TOKYO — Japan’s Nikkei index erased most of its early gains to edge higher on Thursday, weighed down by concerns over corporate outlook.

The Nikkei share average rose 0.36% to 27,815.48, after advancing 1.1% to cross the 28,000 mark for the first time since June 10.

The broader Topix inched up 0.16% at 1,948.85.

The Nasdaq jumped more than 4% on Wednesday in its biggest daily percentage gain since April 2020, as the Federal Reserve raised interest rates as expected and comments by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell eased some worries about the pace of rate hikes.

“The Nikkei rose too much earlier in the session and that was just a reaction to the overnight strong performance of Wall Street,” said Shigetoshi Kamada, general manager at the research department of Tachibana Securities.

“Soon investors realized that they could not be optimistic about domestic corporate outlook. Some results were good, but when looking into details, the weaker yen tended to be the only positive factor.”

Shares of Nitto Denko fell 2.24%, extending losses to a fourth session. Even though the company raised its profit outlook on Tuesday, investors were disappointed that currency was the only driver for the forecast raise, said Kamada.

Mitsubishi Motors surged 10.91% after quarterly profit almost trebled and the automaker lifted its full-year forecast.

Energy-related shares were strong, with the utility sector and oil explorers rising 3.67% and 2.43%, respectively.

Staffing agency Recruit Holdings rose 4.37 % to be the best performer among the top 30 core Topix names.

Toyota Motor Corp lost 2.03% and was the worst performer among the top 30 Topix names, followed by air-conditioning maker Daikin Industries which lost 1.55%.

(Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)