Reply #89: Japanese Stocks Decline for Sixth Day [View All]

[54anickel]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Japan-Markets.html

TOKYO (AP)-- Japanese stocks fell for a sixth day Wednesday as investors took a wait-and-see attitude ahead of the upcoming third-quarter earnings season. The dollar hovered at a two-year high versus the yen.

The Nikkei 225 index fell 222.75 points, or 1.67 percent, to finish at 13,129.49 points on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The broader TOPIX index, which includes all issues on the exchange's first section, slipped 12.91 points, or 0.93 percent, to 1,379.78.

Traders cited lack of foreign investor interest before companies announce third-quarter earnings over the next two weeks.

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Stocks have fallen as investors have sold shares that have put in healthy gains in the market's rally earlier this month to four-year highs.

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Traders said sentiment toward the dollar remains bullish on expectations of steady interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve and the resulting widening of the rate differential between the U.S. and Japan.

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