TOKYO, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average .N225
dipped on Monday following a fall in Wall Street shares while
SoftBank Group 9984.T sank as news revealed it had made
massive bets on U.S. technology shares just as a rally in the
sector cooled off.
The Nikkei was down 0.34% at 23,126.92, while the broader
Topix .TOPX was down 0.21% at 1,613.19, with both indexes
staying off their six-month highs touched last Thursday.
"Because the market had risen by factoring all the positive
factors ranging from more stimulus and vaccine developments, it
is hard from here to advance further," said Daisuke Uchiyama,
senior strategist at Okasan Securities.
Concerns about high valuations sent Wall Street's tech-heavy
Nasdaq sharply lower during the last two sessions, its biggest
setback after almost six months of strong gains. In Japan, SoftBank Group sank 6.6% to a two-month low. The
company made significant option purchases during the run-up in
the U.S. stock market in recent weeks as a way of temporarily
investing some proceeds from asset sales, people familiar with
the matter said on Friday. Mobile phone carriers such as KDDI 9433.T , SoftBank Corp
9434.T and NTT DoCoMo 9437.T fell between 0.7% and 1.4% as
Yoshihide Suga, who is expected to win a ruling party leadership
election next week to succeed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, has
been calling for lower mobile tariffs.
Bank shares .IBNKS.T rose 0.5%, with Aomori Bank 8342.T
and Michinoku Bank 8350.T adding 6.1% and 9.6%, respectively,
after local media reported that the two banks based in northern
Japan were discussing business integration.
Although the banks said a decision has not been made, the
news fanned hopes for more mergers in Japan's crowded banking
sector.
Industry robot maker Fanuc 6954.T jumped 6.9% after
business daily Nikkei reported the company plans to triple
output of a type of factory robot due to increased automation
demand following the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Editing by Devika Syamnath)