Tokyo stocks open lower after Saudi oil attacks

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Tokyo, Sept 17 (AFP/APP):Tokyo stocks opened lower on Tuesday on geopolitical concerns after crude prices surged following a weekend attack on Saudi oil facilities.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.47 percent or 103.80 points at 21,884.49 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was down 0.49 percent or 7.84 points at 1,602.03.

“There were falls on Wall Street because of concerns on surging oil prices after attacks on Saudi oil facilities, but the margins of the falls are not very big so the impact may be limited,” Hideyuki Ishiguro, senior strategist at Daiwa Securities, said in a commentary.

“If similar attacks don’t continue, oil prices will likely stabilise,” he said.

Investor focus will shift gradually to central bankers’ meetings this week, with the US Federal Reserve holding a two-day meeting through Wednesday and the Bank of Japan holding its meeting through Thursday, he said.

“After the ECB announced stimulus including quantitative easing, the market focus is shifting from (central bank) rate policies to quantitative easing,” he said.

If the Fed “mentions quantitative easing, that would be a boost to the stock market,” he said.
The dollar fetched 108.06 yen in early Asian trade, against 108.10 yen in New York.
On Wall Street, the Dow ended down 0.5 percent at 27,076.82.

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