Nikkei pulls back from over 30-year high on profit-taking

TOKYO, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average
retreated from a more than three-decade high in early trade on
Wednesday as investors locked in some profits after a rally, but
the market stayed on course for a second year of gains.
The benchmark Nikkei share average .N225 fell 0.57% to
27,412.24 on the last trading day of the year, after closing at
its highest level since Aug. 16, 1990 in the previous session.
The broader Topix .TOPX slipped 0.67% to 1,806.92, pulling
back from its highest level since October 2018 reached on
Tuesday.
On the year, the Nikkei was up 15.8% compared to an 18.2%
gain in 2019, while the Topix was nearly 5% higher after
climbing more than 15.2% in the previous year.
Japanese financial markets will be closed from Thursday and
reopen on Monday, Jan. 4.
"Not a lot of investors would be willing to force themselves
to make year-end positions, especially a day after many market
players made large purchases," a market participant said.
Market sentiment was also hit by overnight losses on Wall
Street on re-emerging doubts about whether the U.S. Senate would
authorise additional pandemic aid cheques.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday
delayed vote on President Donald Trump's call to increase
pandemic relief payments to $2,000. All but five of the 33 sector sub-indexes on the Tokyo
exchange in the negative territory.
Iron and steel .ISTEL.T , mining .IMING.T and textiles
.ITXTL.T led declines on the main bourse, falling between
1.16% and 1.75%.
Honda Motor 7267.T led the underperformers among the Topix
30, down 1.79%, followed by Shin-Etsu Chemical 4063.T , which
lost 1.72%.
JFE Holdings 5411.T , Mitsui E&S Holdings 7003.T and
Seiko Epson Corp 6724.T , were the biggest percentage losers in
the index, down between 2.95% and 3.13%.
Among individual gainers, a renewable energy developer
Renova 2685.T rose 2.65% to reach its record high, benefiting
from investors' growing expectations for clean energy.