Tokyo stocks open lower tracking Wall Street falls

Tokyo - Tokyo stocks opened lower on Wednesday tracking falls on Wall Street that were led by weakness in tech shares as trade war worries linger.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 0.39% or 85.21 points to 21 770.33 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was down 0.24% or 4.07 points at 1 688.73.

Analysts said tech shares suffered partly due to news that a Chinese court temporarily banned US Micron Technologies from selling its products.

"The market has been rightly besotted with trade tension news with July 6 looming for the imposition of those additional tariffs from the US and China," David de Garis, economist at National Australia Bank, said in a note to clients.

Trading volume in Tokyo is likely to be thin and "a wait-and-see attitude could dominate the market as the US market is closed for the Independence Day holiday" on Wednesday, SBI Securities said in a commentary.

The dollar fetched ¥110.42 in Asian trade, against ¥110.59 in New York late on Tuesday.

In Tokyo, semiconductor equipment maker Tokyo Electron dropped 4.01% to 17 820 and semiconductor testing devices maker Advantest dived 4.63% to ¥2 181.

Game giant Nintendo was down 3.26% at ¥35 240 and Uniqlo casual wear operator Fast Retailing was down 1.69% at ¥48 690.

In New York, the Dow closed down 0.5% at 24 172.82 while the tech-rich Nasdaq fell 0.9% to 7 502.67.