Tokyo stocks down at break on stronger yen

Tokyo - Tokyo stocks fell on Thursday morning as profit-taking and a stronger yen overshadowed a fifth successive record close on Wall Street.

New York's three main indexes pressed on with their surge after figures showed US inflation hit a four-year high in January, fuelling bets on an interest rate hike soon.

US equities have soared since President Donald Trump last week vowed to release details of his promised tax cut plan within two to three weeks.

Sentiment was further lifted by a hopeful outlook from US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and solid data on retail sales and consumer spending.

That all combined to add to the view that the US central bank would soon raise interest rates, a positive for financial stocks.

But US stocks "could plunge once US President Trump announces a tax cut plan, unless (there is) a significant surprise", warned Mitsushige Akino, a fund manager at Ichiyoshi Asset Management.

Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 was down on profit-taking as it approached the "psychologically important" 19 500 level, he told Bloomberg News.

The index fell ¥119.62, to 19 318.36 by the break, while the Topix index of all first-section issues slipped 6.07 points, to 1 547.62.

The dollar weakened to ¥113.88, from ¥114.43 on Wednesday in Asia.

A pick up in the yen is bad news for Japanese exporters as it makes them less competitive overseas and shrinks the value of their repatriated profits.

Automakers were among the losers, with Toyota down 1.09% at ¥6 420 and Nissan falling 0.66% to ¥1 119.5. Honda lost 1.43% to end the morning at 3,579 yen.

Market heavyweight Fanuc, a factory robotics giant, fell 0.70% to ¥22 400.

Toshiba declined 3.29% to ¥202.8, extending two days of heavy losses as fears mount over a sea of red ink at its US nuclear power business.

The firm on Tuesday warned of a $6.2bn write down in the business owing to ballooning costs and announced a probe into possible accounting wrongdoing by the unit's senior executives.

The Nikkei business daily reported on Wednesday that Toshiba is working to negotiate new schedules for two long-delayed nuclear projects in the US, seeking to set more achievable completion timelines and avoid haemorrhaging additional funds.

News reports also said the beleaguered group would delay the planned sale of a stake in its prized microchip business, as the firm looks to raise cash.