Nikkei edged lower in choppy trade on Thursday morning as investors took profits from its recent rally to a 27-year high, while automakers rose after on news of technology tie-ups for self-driving cars.
Toyota Motor Corp surged as much as 2.2 per cent after the automaker and SoftBank Group Corp would announce a partnership to develop automated driving and other technology on Thursday, sources said.
SoftBank surged 3.3 per cent.
Honda Motor Co soared as much as 1.9 per cent after it said it will invest $2.75 billion and take a 5.7 per cent stake in General Motors Co’s Cruise self-driving vehicle unit.
The Nikkei share average opened higher but dropped 0.2 per cent to 24,070.37 in mid-morning trade as market participants reckoned the Nikkei had been overbought in the recent rally.
The Nikkei has traded more than 5.0 per cent above its 25-day moving average of late, a sign the market is overbought.
Index-heavyweight stocks such as Fast Retailing fell 1.1 per cent on profit-taking after rising 2.0 per cent last week, taking a hefty 25 points off the Nikkei.
Dai-ichi Life Holdings surged 3.5 per cent, T&D Holdings climbed 3.4 per cent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group soared 3.0 per cent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group jumped 3.2 per cent.
