Slight gains seen in Tokyo equities markets

There were slight gains in the Tokyo equities markets on Wednesday as investors continue to hesitate ahead of the Bank of Japan’s interest rate decision, due Thursday. The Nikkei 225 added 0.3 percent to 17,261.35, while the Topix index was up 0.2 percent to 1,706.76.

The banking sector was lower, dropping 1.1 percent as a whole. Sumitomo Trust & Banking matched the sector with a 1.1 percent decline, to ¥1,309. Mitsubishi UFJ held steady at ¥1,530,000.

On the other hand, the real estate sector saw gains on the session. Mitsui Fudosan was 1.9 percent higher to ¥2,970, while Sumitomo Realty & Development added 2.1 percent to ¥3,830 and Mitsubishi Estate was up 2.9 percent to ¥3,240.

With the yen weaker, some export-focused stocks were up, with the machinery sector gaining 1 percent. Construction equipment manufacturer Komatsu gained 1.5 percent to ¥2.425.

The Japanese semiconductors sector was lower on the session after US chipmaker Intel said that its profits in the fourth quarter were down by 40 percent and warned that margins would not improve anytime soon. Tokyo Electron dropped 0.3 percent to ¥9,270, while Advantest fell 0.5 percent to ¥6,630.

NTT DoCoMo was 0.5 percent lower to ¥190,000 after its spring line of mobile units failed to impress.

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