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Tokyo, Feb 17, 2016 (AFP) -Tokyo stocks swung between gains and losses Wednesday, ending the morning session lower as a pick-up in the yen held back exporters and uncertainty hung over world oil output.
The Japanese market was also weighed down by profit-taking after two days of gains, including a more than seven percent surge on Monday.
"The Japanese market has rebounded for two days, so it's possible that investors may take profit," Chihiro Ohta, general manager of investment information at SMBC Nikko Securities, told Bloomberg News.
"The risk-off mood has eased a little as of yesterday, but markets are still in a stormy climate and lack stability."
The dip came even as market heavyweight SoftBank jumped 10.62 percent to 5,642.0 yen by the break, adding to Tuesday's nearly 16 percent surge.
The jumped was in response to the mobile carrier announcing it would buy back about 14 percent of its shares for more than $4 billion over the course of a year.
At the break, the benchmark Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange fell 0.16 percent, or 26.17 points, to 16,028.26.
The Topix index of all first-section shares slipped 0.15 percent, or 1.89 points, to 1,295.12.
On currency markets, the dollar eased to 113.89 yen from 114.03 yen in New York.
A stronger yen is bad for the profitability of Japanese exporters and tends to hit demand for their shares.
On Tuesday, Wall Street rose thanks to gains in beaten-down technology shares, as the oil market gave a lacklustre response to a conditional agreement between Saudi Arabia and Russia to freeze output at record levels.
"The market was expecting a little more -- cuts to production, for example, and it's undeniable that investors aren't fully satisfied with the pledge," Ohta said.
Toyota shares fell 2.40 percent to 6,100.0 yen, while energy explorer Inpex tumbled 5.36 percent to 915.0 yen.
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