TOKYO, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Japanese shares dropped on
Wednesday as fresh worries about a global recession weighed on
risk assets, with U.S. President Donald Trump showing no signs
of backing down in his trade war with China.
The Nikkei share average .N225 took its cue from Wall
Street's selloff overnight and fell 0.4% to 20,596.92 by the
midday break. Trading remained subdued as key events due later
in the week kept many investors on the sidelines.
In New York, all three major stock indexes retreated on
Tuesday to end a three-day rally, with financial shares leading
the losses. .N/C
Trump said on Tuesday he had to confront China over trade
even if it caused short-term harm to the U.S. economy because
Beijing had been cheating Washington for decades. Concerns about Italy's political chaos and Britain's
tumultuous exit from the European Union also have made investors
wary. The broader Topix .TOPX shed 0.8% to 1,495.19, with all
but one of Tokyo's 33 subindexes finishing the morning session
in negative territory.
A notable mover was benchmark Nikkei's heavyweight SoftBank
Group 9984.T , which slid 3.0% to become the most traded stock
on the main board.
Although there was no fresh negative news from the company,
traders said markets are digesting the Wall Street Journal's
weekend report of the firm's plan to lend employees up to $20
billion to invest in its Vision Fund 2. Rate-sensitive TSE REIT index .TREIT eased 0.1%, snapping
its eight-day winning streak, but still not far from its 12-year
peak. Looking ahead, investors await comments from Federal Reserve
Chairman Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole symposium on Friday
and the Group of Seven (G7) summit, to be held in southwestern
France on Aug 24-26.