Tokyo stocks open narrowly down
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Chip related stocks were higher, but manufacturers Sony and Toshiba slipped in early trading
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TOKYO, Japan -- Tokyo stocks opened narrowly down on Tuesday on worries about selling by banks and insurers, while chip-related issues such as Tokyo Electron Ltd rose on a brighter industry outlook.
The Nikkei average was down 0.56 percent at 8,722.46 shortly after the opening. The broader TOPIX index was off 0.05 percent at 861.26.
Tokyo Electron, Japan's biggest maker of chip-producing equipment, rose 1.72 percent to 5,910 yen, after industry group Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International said on Monday that global sales of chip-making equipment rose 43 percent in December from the month before to $1.82 billion.
But technology stocks such as Sony and Toshiba were weaker.
The market is also being weighed down heavily by banks and insurers, who are rushing to offload shares ahead of book-closing in March to reduce their exposure to market swings.
"The Nikkei faces some pretty heavy resistance above 8,800 when banks and insurers start selling shares," said Minoru Tada, senior managing officer at World Nichiei Securities.
Wall Street was closed on Monday for a national holiday.
In Australia, the SA&P/ASX 200 was marginally firmer at 2852, up 0.3 percent while in New Zealand the Top 40 index was 0.2 percent stronger at 1947.27.
Amongst Australian stocks to improve in early trading were leading airline qantas, up A4c to A$3.40 and banker CBA, A7c higher at A$24.65.
In South Korea, the Kospi was nearly 1 percent weaker at 596.04 while in Singapore the Straits times Index slipped 0.7 percent to 1300.28.
Reuters contributed to this report.
