Tokyo stocks fall after poor US jobs report

TOKYO, June 6, (AFP) – Tokyo stocks fell Monday as a strong yen hit exporters after weak US jobs data aggravated worries about the global economy and all but ruled out a Federal Reserve rate hike this month.The world’s top economy added just 38,000 net new positions in May, a quarter of the amount expected and the lowest in six years, data on Friday showed.

The figures came after Federal Reserve officials had repeatedly said a June or July interest rate increase was on the cards. The Fed holds its next policy meeting next week and traders now expect it to hold off hiking rates until much later in the year.

“The market had been taking an optimistic view that even if we see a US rate hike in the coming few weeks, the economy was brisk enough to withstand it,” Yoshinori Ogawa, a market strategist at Okasan Securities, told Bloomberg News.

“But now we see that there’s a gap between the actual economy and what the market was thinking… There’s really no reason to buy Japanese stocks at the moment.”The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.37 percent, or 62.20 points, at 16,580.03, having clawed back some of its earlier losses.

The broader Topix index of all first-section shares dropped 0.36 percent, or 4.80 points, to 1,332.43.The dollar ticked up to 106.96 yen from 106.63 yen Friday in New York but it was still well down from levels above 109 yen before the jobs figures scythed any chance of an early rate hike.

A stronger yen tends to dent Japanese stocks as it shrinks the value of exporters’ repatriated profits.Toyota edged 0.14 percent lower to 5,667 yen, Nissan was 1.25 percent off at 1,064.5 yen and industrial robot maker Fanuc slipped 0.55 percent to 16,090 yen.

Banks also fell, with Mitsubishi Financial Group down 1.50 percent at 523.2 yen and rival Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group tumbling 1.70 percent to 3,353 yen.

Energy explorer Inpex shed 2.42 percent to 845.9 yen, while refiner JX Holdings ticked 0.44 percent higher to 426.5 yen.
NISSAN MOTOR (isin = JP3672400003)
TOYOTA MOTOR (isin = JP3633400001)
MITSUI & CO (isin = JP3893600001)
INPEX (isin = JP3294460005)
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FANUC (isin = JP3802400006)
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