Tokyo stocks fall largely on concerns over early U.S. rate hike

TOKYO, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks closed largely lower Wednesday, dragged down by weak technology issues with worries on a possible early U.S. interest rate hike as Jerome Powell was nominated as chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve for a second four-year term.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average finished down 471.45 points, or 1.58 percent, from Monday at 29,302.66. Japanese financial markets were closed Tuesday for a national holiday.

The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange ended 23.70 points, or 1.16 percent, lower at 2,019.12.

Declining issues were led by precision instrument, electric appliance and service issues.

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Monday that he plans to re-elect Powell as fed chairman for a second term as the country is battling against COVID-19 as well as inflation, and to appoint Lael Brainard, who had been the main candidate to replace Powell, as the Fed vice chairman.

As the Tokyo stock market resumed trading after the holiday, high-tech issues continued their early declines, driving the market down.

"Some investors who expected Brainard to be next Fed chair unloaded shares" as financial markets had regarded her as possible to maintain interest rates at a low level to support the economy and job growth, said Makoto Sengoku, senior equity market analyst at the Tokai Tokyo Research Institute.

"Excessive selling in the technology sector hurt sentiment on concerns that the sector may remain weak for a long time amid higher rates," Sengoku said.

Among chip-related firm, Tokyo Electron slid 1.8 percent, Screen Holdings dropped 3.1 percent, and Advantest declined 4.1 percent.

The energy sector gained over rising U.S. crude oil futures, as Washington's plan to release 50 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves with other consumer countries was smaller in scale than expected, brokers said.

Oil explorer Inpex rose 3.8 percent, and refiner Eneos Holdings climbed 0.9 percent.

Shinsei Bank advanced 3.4 percent, following reports on Tuesday that the Japanese government is considering using its stake in the bank to vote against the launch of a defense against a hostile takeover by online financial group SBI Holdings Inc.

On the First Section, decliners outnumbered advancers 1,600 to 486, while 97 finished unchanged.

Trading volume on the main section increased to 1,221.87 million shares from Monday's 1,065.38 million shares.