Tokyo stocks open lower on mounting Trump woes

Tokyo - Tokyo stocks fell at the start on Thursday, tracking a tumble on Wall Street as US president Donald Trump's mounting crises raise questions about the future of his ambitious economic agenda.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 234.80 points, to sit at 19 580.08 in early trading, while the Topix index of all first-section issues fell 19.13 points, at 1 556.69.

Reports that Trump asked former FBI chief James Comey to stop a probe into ex-national security advisor Michael Flynn over his contacts with Russia stoked questions about how an embattled White House will advance tax cuts and other growth measures that have boosted stocks.

In Asia, the uncertainty pushed down the dollar against the safe-haven yen, a negative for the profitability of Japan's major exporters.

"Political uncertainty is something that's likely going to be with us for a significant amount of time," Dennis Debusschere, Evercore ISI's head of portfolio strategy, told Bloomberg News.

"We may be looking at a higher volatility backdrop with a trending lower market for the next couple of months."

The drop came despite upbeat Japanese data that showed the world's number three economy posted another quarterly GDP rise, marking its longest expansion in over a decade.

Exporters shares struggled with Panasonic down 1.43% at ¥1 336.5 and camera maker Olympus dropping 3.91% to ¥4 170.

Hitachi fell 1.22% to ¥667.9.

In forex markets, the dollar weakened to ¥111.13 from ¥111.96 in New York and above ¥112 in Tokyo earlier on Wednesday.

On Wall Street, the Dow finished down 373 points at 20 606.93 for a drop of 1.8% - its biggest one-day decline since Trump was elected in November.