Tokyo stocks gave up early gains on Friday as investors waited for new Chinese data after disappointing trade figures from Beijing triggered losses on global markets.
Chinese inflation figures are due out later on Friday, a day after bourses reacted badly to new signs of trouble in the Chinese economy, reports BSS.
The world’s second-biggest economy said that exports plunged a deeper-than-expected 10 percent last month while imports also fell year-on-year.
A pedestrian walks past a foreign exchange rate board, including the Chinese yuan (C) in Tokyo on August 13, 2015
The data sent investors rushing for safer investments such as the yen, a negative factor to the Japanese stock market as it hits profits at the nation’s exporters.
“With domestic earnings coming up from next week onward, there’s a sense of wait-and-see,” said Juichi Wako, a senior strategist at Nomura Holdings.
“It’s negative that investors think the global economy isn’t looking too bright, given the data coming out of China. We don’t have many reasons to keep buying the market,” he told Bloomberg News.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.19 percent, or 31.84 points, at 16,742.40 after the first one hour of trading.
The broader Topix index of all first-section issues dipped 0.22 percent, or 2.94 points, at 1,339.37. The yen eased slightly, with the greenback buying 103.82 yen compared with 103.66 yen in New York on Thursday afternoon.
The Thai baht held up after the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, long a unifying figure in the politically fractious nation. The dollar bought 35.34 baht, down from 35.67 baht a day earlier.
