business

Stocks close 0.97% lower

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Tokyo stocks fell 0.97% on Thursday as U.S. President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe failed to announce any breakthrough in stalled talks over a huge trans-Pacific trade deal.

The Nikkei 225 index closed down 141.28 points to finish at 14,404.99, while the Topix index of all first-section shares was down 0.76%, or 8.91 points, at 1,164.90.

The market had turned down in the morning following a sell-off on Wall Street and as the stronger yen hit exporters' shares.

But the fall accelerated in the afternoon with traders unimpressed by the lack of progress in the 12-nation trade talks.

Obama, who began an Asian tour in Tokyo, called on Japan to take "bold steps" in moving ahead on the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would cover about 40% of the global economy.

The talks have been stalled as Tokyo and Washington lock horns over key details, including Japanese tariffs on agricultural products and U.S. access to its Asian ally's major auto market.

"I think it's fair to say that there are a certain sectors of the Japanese economy, the agriculture sector, the auto sector, in which market access has been restricted historically," Obama told a press briefing with Abe.

He added that those issues "at some point have to be resolved", adding that "I believe that point is now".

Investrust CEO Hiroyuki Fukunaga said after that press briefing that "it seems that nothing was really new".

"There were some hopes that an announcement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership -- perhaps a breakthrough -- might be forthcoming but that does not appear to be the case," he told Dow Jones Newswires.

In forex markets, the dollar slipped to 102.28 yen from 102.50 yen in New York on Wednesday. A stronger yen dents the profitability of Japanese exporters.

© (c) 2014 AFP

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

2 Comments
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"A stronger yen dents the profitability of Japanese exporters...."

It irritates me when I read dangling prepositions like this! Why not finish the sentence?

"...while it improves the other 83% of the domestic and import economy by making energy, food, raw materials, etc. costs stable/down!"

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I don't see any prepositions in that sentence, dangling or otherwise.

In your proposed 'correction' though I do see a glaring grammatical error; by making energy, food, raw materials, etc. costs stable/down! By making energy etc., down?

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

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