Japan share market finished session lower on Tuesday, 27 April 2021, as investors continued to stand on the sidelines amid continued concerns about higher coronavirus infections in Japan and ahead of corporate earnings releases by major Japanese companies. Investors showed a muted reaction to a decision by the Bank of Japan to keep its monetary policy unchanged.
At closing bell, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average declined 134.34 points, or 0.46%, to 28,991.89. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange decreased 14.60 points, or 0.76%, to 1,903.55.
Total 25 sub-indexes of the 33 sector sub-indexes on the Tokyo exchange traded lower, with Pharmaceutical, Precision Instruments, Chemicals, Real Estate, Transportation Equipment, Electric Appliances, and Wholesale Trade issues being notable losers, while Marine Transportation, Securities & Commodities Futures, and Banks issues were notable gainers.
Tokyo stocks opened lower and spent most of the day in negative territory as government's declaration of a third state of emergency over the novel coronavirus pandemic amid worsening coronavirus situation in Japan, with the death toll from COVID-19 doubling in about three months to top 10,000 on Monday. Multiple regions, including Tokyo and Osaka, were recently placed under a new state of emergency to curb the spread of coronavirus infections.
Investors were also reluctant to buy shares as more Japanese companies are expected to report their full-year earnings results ended March and projections for the year from April in the coming days.
ECONOMIC NEWS: BoJ Maintains Monetary Stimulus- The Bank of Japan maintained its monetary stimulus unchanged, as widely expected, after tweaking its policy at the March meeting. The board, governed by Haruhiko Kuroda, on Tuesday, voted 8-1 to hold the interest rate at -0.1% on current accounts that financial institutions maintain at the central bank.
The bank will continue to purchase a necessary amount of Japanese government bonds without setting an upper limit so that 10-year JGB yields will remain at around zero%. The bank downgraded its near-term inflation forecast and raised its growth projections despite the restrictions related to COVID-19 pandemic. For the fiscal 2021, the bank expects 4% real growth instead of 3.9% estimated in January. Citing stronger domestic and external demand, the growth projection for the fiscal 2022 was raised to 2.4% from 1.8%. Thereafter, growth is seen easing to 1.3% in the fiscal 2023.
CURRENCY NEWS: The Japanese yen traded at 108.30 per dollar, still weaker than levels around 107.5 against the greenback seen late last week.
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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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