• Tokyo stocks closed lower Wednesday ahead of US inflation data.
• The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed down 1.61% at 28 147.51, while the broader Topix index slipped 1.47% to 1 877.95.
• Worries over a shrinking of US monetary easing and falls on other Asian bourses weighed on the Japanese market, analysts have said.

Tokyo stocks closed lower Wednesday ahead of US inflation data on concerns over the winding down of American monetary easing, echoing falls on other Asian bourses.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed down 1.61%, or 461.08 points, at 28 147.51, while the broader Topix index slipped 1.47%, or 27.97 points, to 1 877.95.

"After a rebound from a rout in the previous session, sell orders dominated the market in later trade ahead of the release of the US consumer confidence index" later in the day, Okasan Online Securities said in a commentary.

Worries over a shrinking of US monetary easing and falls on other Asian bourses weighed on the Japanese market, analysts added.

Shares in Toyota rallied 2.18% to 8 523 yen after the world's top-selling automaker said full-year net profit jumped 10.3% even as the pandemic hit the auto industry, projecting growth despite the ongoing semiconductor crisis.

Conglomerate SoftBank Group lost 3.45% to 9 180 yen despite a report saying it was expected to post a full-year net profit of 4.9 trillion yen ($45 billion).

After the market close, SoftBank Group reported annual net profit of $45.8 billion, confirming the earlier report.

Nissan plunged 10.04% to 520.5 yen after missing forecasts for a profit of 133 billion yen as it was hit by a global shortage of chips for its vehicles.

Shipping firms were among losers, with Nippon Yusen falling 4.14% to 4 285 yen and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines dipping 5.73% to 4 445 yen.

The dollar fetched 108.74 yen, compared with 108.62 yen in New York late Tuesday.

Source: News24