The flagship Nikkei index lost 1.63% to 38,202.37 points at the close and the broader Topix index dropped 1.45% to 2,706.43 points.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange retreated on Wednesday after its surge the day before and a lackluster session the day before on Wall Street, investors having also freshly welcomed the sharply lower annual targets of Nintendo and Toyota.
The flagship Nikkei index lost 1.63% to 38,202.37 points at the close and the broader Topix index dropped 1.45% to 2,706.43 points.
The Hong Kong Stock Exchange was also moving down (-0.71% around 06:40 GMT), with investors positioning themselves cautiously ahead of Chinese foreign trade figures for April, expected on Thursday.
Nintendo scared its shareholders
Nintendo fell 5.43% after announcing the day before particularly cautious forecasts for its new fiscal year 2024/25 which began at the beginning of April.
The Japanese video game pioneer certainly promised on Tuesday that it would reveal information by the end of next March on the console which will succeed its Switch which has reached the end of its life cycle. But analysts fear that this highly anticipated new machine will only be released towards the end of its new financial year, which would only provide marginal support to its short-term results.
Toyota makes a mixed impression
The global automobile giant Toyota (-0.55%) announced new record annual results on Wednesday during the session, but investors were cooled by its sharply lower profit forecasts for its new 2024/25 financial year, because of giant investments in new technologies and human capital.
Toyota, however, spared its shareholders by raising its annual dividend for the past financial year and by planning in 2024/25 a huge share buyback program of up to 1,000 billion yen (6 billion euros at the current price). current).
The yen remains down
The dollar continued its rise against the yen, after two probable interventions by Japan on the foreign exchange market last week to support its currency. Around 06:40 GMT, the dollar returned to 155.17 yen against 154.69 yen on Tuesday at 21:00 GMT.
The European currency also appreciated to 166.77 yen against 166.37 yen the day before, while falling very slightly compared to the greenback, to one euro for 1.0748 dollars against 1.0755 dollars on Tuesday.
Oil prices fell: around 06:30 GMT the barrel of American WTI lost 0.63% to 77.89 dollars and the barrel of Brent from the North Sea dropped 0.64% to 82.63 dollars.
