By Stanley White
TOKYO, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Japan's benchmark Nikkei index
pulled back from the highest in more than a year on Wednesday as
conflicting signals from the U.S. government dampened optimism
for a preliminary trade agreement with China.
At 0147 GMT the Nikkei index was up 0.33% at 22,898.42, on
course for its biggest decline in three weeks.
It was the first downturn for Japanese stocks in eight
trading sessions, after a U.S. administration official told
Reuters on Tuesday that an interim U.S.-China trade agreement
might not be completed in time for signing at an Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation summit in Chile on Nov. 16-17. A delay does not mean the accord is falling apart, the
official said. However, the remarks conflicted with U.S.
President Donald Trump's comments on Monday that he expected to
sign a significant part of the trade deal with China ahead of
schedule. Trump's comments had lifted global stock markets and sent
the Nikkei to the highest in more than a year on Tuesday.
Investors also avoided taking big long positions before a
U.S. Federal Reserve policy decision later on Wednesday and a
Bank of Japan meeting on Thursday.
There were 148 decliners on the Nikkei index against 73
advancers on Wednesday.
The largest percentage losses in the index were electronics
manufacturer NEC Corp 6701.T , down 5.51%, followed by rival
electronics manufacturer Omron Corp 6645.T losing 4.28% and
Nippon Electric Glass Co Ltd 5214.T down 4.19%.
On the winning ledger, packaged food maker Nisshin Seifun
Group Inc 2002.T jumped 7.06%, electronics conglomerate
Fujitsu Ltd 6702.T rallied 5.63% and cosmetics maker Shiseido
Co Ltd 4911.T up by 3.22%.
The broader Topix index .TOPX added 0.04% to 1,663.36. It
earlier reached its highest level since Dec. 4, 2018.
The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's
main board .TOPX was 0.52 billion, compared to the average of
1.24 billion in the past 30 days.
(Editing by Shri Navaratnam)