Tokyo stocks closed lower Wednesday, despite an overnight rally on Wall Street and erasing early gains when the market opened.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average lost 55.19 points, or 0.66 percent, from Tuesday to 8,273.22.
The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was down 8.01 points, or 0.96 percent, to 827.43.
Decliners were led by trading house, insurance and consumer finance issues. Major gainers included gas and electric, rubber product, and pharmaceutical issues.
Japanese financials, especially banking shares, were among the hardest hit issues. According to earnings reports released by Tuesday, the total net profit of Japan's six major banking groups fell 58.0 percent in the six months through September from a year earlier.
Mizuho Financial Group dropped 17,300 yen, or over 7 percent, to 212,500 yen, and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, which fell 27,000 yen, or nearly 8 percent, to 314,000 yen.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, the day's volume leader, also fell 35 yen, or over 6 percent, to 511 yen, after Japan's largest banking group said Tuesday its group net profit fell 64.2 percent in the six months through September from a year earlier to 92.02 billion yen on growing credit costs.
On the First Section, declining issues outnumbered advancing ones 869 to 736, with 107 others remaining unchanged.
Trading volume on the main section came to 1,948.78 million shares, down from Tuesday's 1,950.94 million.
The TSE's Second Section index was down 19.38 points, or 0.99 percent, to 1,944.09 on a volume of 25.56 million shares. On the Osaka Securities Exchange, the near-term December Nikkei 225 index futures contract was down 50 points to 8,270.
Source: Xinhua
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