At closing bell, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average declined 134.34 points, or 0.46%, to 28,991.89. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange decreased 14.60 points, or 0.76%, to 1,903.55.
Total 25 sub-indexes of the 33 sector sub-indexes on the Tokyo exchange traded lower, with Pharmaceutical, Precision Instruments, Chemicals, Real Estate, Transportation Equipment, Electric Appliances, and Wholesale Trade issues being notable losers, while Marine Transportation, Securities & Commodities Futures, and Banks issues were notable gainers.
Tokyo stocks opened lower and spent most of the day in negative territory as government's declaration of a third state of emergency over the novel coronavirus pandemic amid worsening coronavirus situation in Japan, with the death toll from COVID-19 doubling in about three months to top 10,000 on Monday. Multiple regions, including Tokyo and Osaka, were recently placed under a new state of emergency to curb the spread of coronavirus infections.
Investors were also reluctant to buy shares as more Japanese companies are expected to report their full-year earnings results ended March and projections for the year from April in the coming days.
ECONOMIC NEWS: BoJ Maintains Monetary Stimulus- The Bank of Japan maintained its monetary stimulus unchanged, as widely expected, after tweaking its policy at the March meeting. The board, governed by Haruhiko Kuroda, on Tuesday, voted 8-1 to hold the interest rate at -0.1% on current accounts that financial institutions maintain at the central bank. The bank will continue to purchase a necessary amount of Japanese government bonds without setting an upper limit so that 10-year JGB yields will remain at around zero%. The bank downgraded its near-term inflation forecast and raised its growth projections despite the restrictions related to COVID-19 pandemic. For the fiscal 2021, the bank expects 4% real growth instead of 3.9% estimated in January. Citing stronger domestic and external demand, the growth projection for the fiscal 2022 was raised to 2.4% from 1.8%. Thereafter, growth is seen easing to 1.3% in the fiscal 2023.
CURRENCY NEWS: The Japanese yen traded at 108.30 per dollar, still weaker than levels around 107.5 against the greenback seen late last week.
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