Japan Stocks fall on corporate earnings woes

Stocks in Japan market finished session lower on Friday, 24 April 2020, as investor sentiment was dampened on following a soft lead from Wall Street overnight after reports that a possible coronavirus vaccine had failed early trials. Investor sentiment was also dampened by firms' corporate earnings reports revealing downwardly revised outlooks and diminished revenues as a result of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. At closing bell, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average fell 167.44 points, or 0.86%, to 19,262.00. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange dropped 4.69 points, or 0.33%, at 1,421.29. For the week, Nikkei 225 index dropped 3.20% and Topix index shed 1.47%.

Total 27 issues of 33 industry category of Topix index were in negative territory, with Air Transportation, Securities & Commodities Futures, Electric Power & Gas, Pulp & Paper, Marine Transportation, and Textiles & Apparels issues being notable losers, while Oil & Coal Products, Insurance, and Pharmaceutical issues were notable gainers.

The US stocks ended mixed on Thursday, having pared early strong gains after a news report, citing inadvertently released results, said the closely watched antiviral drug remdesivir had had no effect on patients in its first randomised clinical test.

Sentiment deteriorated further after some major Japanese electronics firms revised downward their profit forecasts or postponed the announcement of results as a result of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Shares of semiconductor-related issues fell on Intel Corp.'s weaker-than-expected earnings outlook for the second quarter and its failure to provide a full-year guidance due to the virus spread. Canon sank 2.early 3% after it reported a 30% drop in its first quarter to March net profit while withdrawing its full-year earnings outlook due to the economic uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Among semiconductor issues, Tokyo Electron fell 1.9%, Advantest shed 2%, and Shin-Etsu Chemical slipped 2%.

Major Tokyo-listed shares were also lower, with Uniqlo casual wear operator Fast Retailing dropping 2%, SoftBank Group off 1.2% and Sony lower by 0.8%. Fujifilm, which is carrying out clinical trials of its anti-flu drug Avigan for coronavirus patients, was up 0.2% and Nintendo advanced 0.5%.

ECONOMIC NEWS: Japan Consumer Prices Unchanged At 0.4% On Year In March- Japan consumer prices were up 0.4% on year in March, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Friday, unchanged from the February reading. Core CPI, which excludes volatile food prices, also was up an annual 0.4%, down from the 0.6% gain in the previous month. Individually, prices were up for food, housing, furniture, clothing, medical care, communications and recreation. They were down for fuel and education. On a monthly basis, overall inflation was flat, while core inflation was down 0.1%.

Japan All Industry Activity Falls For First Time In 4 Months In February- Japan's all industry activity index fell 0.6% month-on-month in February, offsetting a 0.6% rise in January, figures from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed on Friday. This was the first decrease since October. Among components, construction activity decreased 1.6% on month, after a 1.2% rise in January. The tertiary industry activity declined 0.6% in February, after a 0.3% rise. Industrial production fell 0.3% in February, after a 2.0% increase in the preceding month. On a yearly basis, the all industry activity index fell 2.1% in February, following a 1.8% decline in the prior month.

CURRENCY: The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 100.754 after an earlier high of 100.795. The Japanese yen traded at 107.70 per dollar after seeing an earlier high of 107.53.

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