Japan stocks end lower, but SoftBank soars on DoorDash listing

By Stanley White
TOKYO, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Japan shares settled lower on
Thursday as the Brexit impasse and political wrangling over U.S.
stimulus weighed on investor sentiment globally, while market
heavyweight SoftBank Group Corp jumped to a more than two-decade
high on DoorDash listing.
SoftBank 9984.T rose nearly 11% after the technology giant
scored a $11.2 billion gain in the value of its stake in
DoorDash Inc DASH.N following the U.S. food delivery app's
blockbuster stock market debut on Wednesday. The benchmark Nikkei share average .N225 fell 0.23% to
26,756.24, pulling back from a 29-1/2-year high hit in the
previous session and declining for the fourth session in five.
The broader Topix .TOPX eased 0.18% to 1,776.21.
U.S. lawmakers approved a stopgap government funding bill on
Wednesday, but were unable to sort out disagreements over aid to
state and local governments that is holding up a broader
spending package. Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the
European Union's chief executive gave themselves until the end
of the weekend to seal a new trade pact. "There are a lot of events in Europe that are encouraging
investors to take some profits off the table," said Ayako Sera,
a market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank.
"The market has already risen so much that there may not be
much room to rise further from here."
The underperformers among the Topix 30 were Daikin
Industries Ltd 6367.T , down 3.90%, followed by Kao Corp
4452.T , losing 2.73%.
The stocks that gained the most among the top 30 core Topix
names were SoftBank Group Corp 9984.T , up 10.91 %, followed by
Seven & i Holdings Co Ltd 3382.T , rising 2.85%.
There were 114 advancers on the Nikkei index against 100
decliners.
The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's
main board .TOPX was 0.54 billion, compared to the average of
1.34 billion in the past 30 days.