TOKYO – Tokyo shares opened 0.68 percent lower on Monday, following a sharp fall on Wall Street last week due to disappointing data on unemployment.
The headline Nikkei-225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange opened down 68.72 points at 10,069.01.
Yutaka Miura, senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities, said: “the Nikkei at its current level (the highest since the March 11 earthquake) is ripe for profit-taking.”
“But losses are likely to be limited as the market’s expectations for upcoming US and Japanese earnings seasons are quite high,” he told Dow Jones Newswires.
US stocks fell Friday after the Labor Department said that the US economy created a paltry 18,000 jobs in June, dashing hopes that the economic recovery might be gathering speed.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 62.29 points (0.49 percent) to close at 12,657.20 while the broader S&P 500 shed 9.42 points (0.70 percent) to 1,343.80.
The dollar edged up to 80.62 yen in early Tokyo trade from 80.55 yen in New York late Friday. The euro slipped to $1.4225 from $1.4258.