Japan's Nikkei fell on Friday as a drop in semiconductor-related stocks weighed after US's Nvidia disappointed the market with worse-than-expected earnings.

The Nikkei share average opened slightly higher but was down 0.3 per cent at 21,733.17 points by midmorning. The Nikkei has dropped 2.2 per cent so far this week, hit mostly by a drop in oil prices and weakness in Apple suppliers and other tech shares.

“It started with Apple, then Nvidia... Since performances of these companies set the tone for the global tech and chip industries, related Japanese stocks will likely be sluggish for a while,” said Takatoshi Itoshima, a strategist at Pictet Asset Management.

“We not only have US-China trade matters that haven't been resolved but also other global issues like political uncertainty in the U.K and worries about Italy. Investors are reluctant to take risks now.”

Chip equipment makers were sold, with Advantest Corp diving 6.5 per cent and Tokyo Electron tumbling 4.5 per cent. Daifuku Co, which provides cleanroom automation systems, slumped 5 per cent after chip designer Nvidia Corp forecast disappointing sales for the holiday quarter. It also posted sales that missed expectations for its third quarter.

SoftBank Group Corp , which invests in Nvidia, dropped 3.1 per cent. Elsewhere, KYB Corp , a maker of earthquake shock absorbers, nosedived 10 per cent after the company said that an external probe into data falsification in earthquake shock absorbers showed a need for further investigation.

Separately, the Nikkei business daily reported that China's Ministry of Commerce has begun an investigation into alleged dumping of precision machinery by Fanuc Corp and four other Japanese companies, including Okuma and Brother Industries. Fanuc shed 1.1 per cent, while Okuma and Brother declined 2.7 per cent and 1.6 per cent, respectively.

The broader Topix dropped 0.6 per cent to 1,628.44. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones 1,567 to 461.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW