October 08, 2024 at 02:17 am EDT
(MT Newswires) -- Japanese stocks fell on Tuesday, following losses in US markets, as geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East weighed on sentiment and traders adjusted expectations for a smaller US Federal Reserve rate cut next month.
The Nikkei 225 fell 1%, or 395.2 points, closing at 38,937.54.
Rising oil prices fueled concerns among US investors about the impact of the Middle East conflict. Tensions escalated as Hezbollah fired rockets at Haifa while Israeli forces prepared for ground operations in southern Lebanon following Iranian missile strikes.
In the wake of Friday's strong US jobs report, traders reduced bets on a 50-basis-point rate cut in November. They now anticipate an 86% chance of a 25-basis-point reduction and a 14% likelihood of no cut, according to the CME's FedWatch tool.
On the economic front, Japan's official reserve assets totaled $1.254 trillion at the end of September, up by $19.15 billion from August. Foreign currency reserves accounted for $1.098 trillion of this total.
Meanwhile, average household spending in August decreased 1.9% in real terms but increased 1.5% nominally to 297,487 yen year-over-year, driven by higher fuel and utility costs.
For firms with at least five employees, average cash earnings rose 3% year-on-year in August to 296,588 yen, falling short of July's 3.6% gain and the consensus forecast of 3.1%.
Japan's current account surplus for August reached 3.803 trillion yen, up from 2.294 trillion yen a year earlier, marking the largest surplus in 19 months.
However, the trade deficit widened to 355.81 billion yen in the first 20 days of September, compared to 81.71 billion yen a year ago, surpassing the consensus forecast of 300 billion yen.
In corporate news, Goldwin (TYO:8111) launched Goldwin Korea Corporation in partnership with Youngone Holdings (KRX:009970) for product sales and marketing, effective Oct. 4.
Hiday Hidaka (TYO:7611) reported a 9.1% increase in attributable profit to 1.89 billion yen for the six months ending August 31, with earnings per share rising to 49.72 yen and net sales climbing 13% to 26.88 billion yen.

Sumber : MT Newswires