Tokyo stocks open flat

TOKYO—Tokyo stocks opened flat on Tuesday as a set of fresh Japanese economic indicators showed a patchy recovery for the world’s third-largest economy.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index added 7.24 points, or 0.05 percent, to 13,668.37 at the start, after four days of losses that have seen the index surrender 7.6 percent.

Ten minutes before the opening bell, the government said Japan’s industrial output fell by a sharper-than expected 3.3 percent on-month in June, while household spending was also weak.

In one bright spot, Japan’s jobless rate fell to 3.9 percent in June to the lowest point in more than four years, official data showed.

The Tokyo market was likely to move in a narrow range as investors await a key US monthly jobs report and the Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy meeting, dealers said.

“Markets remain braced in wait for a busy week of data from the United States, with few other incentives on which to trade,” said SMBC Nikko Securities general manager of equities Hiroichi Nishi.

On Wall Street Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.24 percent to close at 15,521.97.

In Tuesday forex trade, the dollar firmed to 98.11 yen compared with 97.89 yen in New York on Monday.

— Dow Jones Newswires contributed to this story. —