Japan stocks slip to 1-week low on firmer yen, trade war worries

TOKYO, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Japanese shares shed more than 1%
on Tuesday on the first trading day after a long weekend, as a
firmer yen and fresh worries about the escalating U.S.-China
trade war hit cyclical and exporter firms.
The Nikkei share average .N225 fell 1.2% to 20,440.51, its
lowest level in a week, while the broader Topix .TOPX lost
1.2% to 1,486.62 by the midday break.
As the market re-opened, investors digested news from
Tokyo's long weekend, which had already sent the overseas share
markets lower.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he was not ready
to make a deal with China and even called a September round of
trade talks into question, reviving concerns on financial
markets that the bilateral dispute is unlikely to end anytime
soon. Goldman Sachs Group Inc GS.N said on Sunday it no longer
expects a trade deal between the world's largest economies
before the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Of Tokyo's 33 subindexes, 32 were in the red, with cyclicals
such as oil and coal products .IPETE.T , rubber products
.IRUBR.T and mining IMING.T sub-indexes becoming the top
three worst performing sectors, down 3.2%, 2.8% and 2.7%,
respectively.
The much stronger yen also soured sentiment and dragged down
exporters, with Honda Motor 7267.T dropping 2.6% and TDK Corp
6762.T slipping 3.9%.
In the currency market, the yen rose as high as 105.05 yen
to the dollar JPY=EBS over the long weekend. All else being
equal, a stronger yen hurts on Japanese exporters' profits.
With the busiest part of Japan's April-June quarter earnings
season wrapping up, reaction to earnings continued to dominate
trading on Monday.
Bridgestone 5406.T slid 3.1% after the tyre maker forecast
full-year net profit through December would fall 1% to 290
billion yen ($2.75 billion), down from the previous forecast of
300 billion yen, citing a demand slowdown in North America.
JFE Holdings 5411.T tumbled 5.6% after the steelmaker's
operating profit excluding one-off gains or losses tanked 63% in
the April-June quarter. Other notable movers include Japan Display Inc 6740.T ,
which nosedived 10.0% after the cash-strapped liquid crystal
display (LCD) maker for smartphones reported a tenth consecutive
quarterly loss and a negative net worth, hit by weak iPhone
sales at Apple Inc AAPL.O . = 105.4300 yen)