By Stanley White
TOKYO, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Japanese stocks fell on Monday as
concerns about upcoming corporate earnings reports prompted some
investors to take profits, with industrial and consumer
discretionary sectors leading the decline.
The Nikkei index .N225 was down 0.30% at 23,548.46 by 0134
GMT, while the broader TOPIX .TOPX fell 0.16% to 1,644.81.
Shares of Yaskawa Electric Corp 6506.T were the biggest
decliner on the Nikkei, sinking 6.13% after the industrial robot
maker said on Friday it expects its dividend payments to fall by
around half. Analysts said the news also weighed on broader sentiment,
with investors also reluctant to buy stocks due to uncertainty
about the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 3 and how that will
affect economic policy.
The second-biggest decliner on the Nikkei was Citizen Watch
Co Ltd 7762.T , down 3.58%, followed by industrial conglomerate
JGC Holdings Corp 1963.T , losing 2.52%.
The largest percentage gainers in the index were property
developer Mitsui Fudosan Co Ltd 8801.T , up 1.8%, followed by
air carrier ANA Holdings Inc 9202.T , gaining 1.4%, and
investment fund SoftBank Group Corp 9984.T , up by 1.3%.
There were 54 advancers on the Nikkei index against 165
decliners.
The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's
main board .TOPX was 0.32 billion, compared with the average
of 1.16 billion in the past 30 days.