Japan stocks fall as risks on several fronts unsettle investors

By Stanley White
TOKYO, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Japanese stocks fell on Thursday
as fading hopes for a new round of U.S. fiscal stimulus, a
return of coronavirus lockdowns in Europe and worries about
Sino-U.S. tensions hurt sentiment.
The Nikkei index .N225 ended 0.51% lower at 23,507.23,
with the healthcare and telecommunications sectors leading the
decline. The broader Topix .TOPX fell 0.74% to 1,631.79.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said reaching a
compromise with the Democrats on a fiscal stimulus was unlikely
before the Nov. 3 election, raising concerns about the economic
outlook for an economy reeling from the impact of the COVID-19
pandemic. Sentiment also worsened after sources told Reuters the U.S.
State Department has submitted a proposal for President Donald
Trump administration to add China's Ant Group to a trade
blacklist, which could complicate its highly-anticipated initial
public offering. Britain has introduced a new lockdown system, France imposed
curfews and other European nations were closing schools to stop
a second wave of the novel coronavirus.
"We believe the momentum underlying the current recovery
will slow down gradually," Soichiro Matsumoto, chief investment
officer for Japan at Credit Suisse, wrote in a memo.
"The first factor is a potential tightening of restrictions
on economic activity due to a second wave of COVID-19
infections. Another factor is increasingly enervated fiscal
policy."
The biggest underperformers among the top 30 core Topix
names were venture capitalist SoftBank Group Corp 9984.T , down
2.08%, followed by drugs maker Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd
4502.T losing 1.97%.
The stocks that gained the most among Topix 30 were
electronic parts maker Murata Manufacturing Co Ltd 6981.T , up
1%, followed by industrial conglomerate Mitsubishi Corp 8058.T
gaining 0.42%.
There were 64 advancers on the Nikkei index against 156
decliners.
The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's
main board .TOPX was 0.89 billion, compared with the average
of 1.11 billion in the past 30 days.