Japanese shares fall as PM Suga considers state of emergency for Tokyo

By Stanley White
TOKYO, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Japanese shares fell on Monday
after Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said he is considering a
state of emergency for Tokyo and surrounding prefectures to
contain a spike in local coronavirus infections.
The Nikkei 225 Index .N225 fell 0.63% to 27,268.38 by 0205
GMT in its first trading session of 2021, on course for the
biggest daily decline in two weeks. The broader Topix .TOPX
fell 0.74% to 1,791.10.
Shares of airlines, transport companies, and retailers fell
on fears that travel restrictions and shorter business hours
will curb consumer spending and hurt the services sector.
Japanese shares rallied in the final days of last year to a
30-year high due to hopes that the approval of coronavirus
vaccines would ramp up the global economy's recovery from the
pandemic, but a record number of cases in Tokyo and surrounding
cities has caused investors to temper their optimism.
"There could be a small correction to 26,000 or 25,500,"
said Kiyoshi Ishigane, chief fund manager at Mitsubishi UFJ
Kokusai Asset Management.
"Companies related to services are getting hurt, but
manufacturers focused on overseas demand should continue to do
well."
The underperformers among the Topix 30 were Central Japan
Railway Co 9022.T down 3.12%, followed by Tokio Marine
Holdings Inc 8766.T losing 1.94%.
The stocks that gained the most among the top 30 core Topix
names were Daiichi Sankyo Co Ltd 4568.T up 2.26%, followed by
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp 9432.T rising 1.95%.
Suga on Monday reiterated a request for some businesses to
close early, but on the positive side he said the rollout of
vaccinations could start as soon as February-end. There were 23 advancers on the Nikkei index against 200
decliners.
The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's
main board .TOPX was 0.48 billion, compared with the average
of 1.2 billion in the past 30 days.