Japanese shares dropped in midmorning trade on Tuesday as local tech stocks tracked their US counterparts’ declines on Wall Street, which knocked other sectors into negative territory.
The Nikkei dropped 0.9 per cent to 21,294.61 in midmorning trade, reports Reuters.
Tokyo Electron sliding 1.8 per cent, Advantest Corp shedding 1.4 per cent and electrical equipment maker Yaskawa Electric Corp tumbling 3.0 per cent.
However, traders said that downside should be limited thanks to the Bank Of Japan’s buying of exchange-traded funds to support the market.
The central bank bought 73.5 billion yen of ETFs on Monday.
With Japanese markets closed for a national holiday on Wednesday, investors are expected to refrain from taking large positions on Tuesday, they added.
Of Topix’s 33 subsectors, 24 were in negative territory. Mining stocks underperformed after oil prices slipped, with Inpex Corp weakening 1.9 per cent.
The broader Topix dropped 0.7 per cent to 1,707.31.