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| - Tokyo stocks opened lower on Thursday as investors closely watched headlines over the broadening new coronavirus outbreak. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index slipped 0.69 percent or 153.93 points to 22,272.26 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was down 0.69 percent or 11.07 points at 1,595.10. "Japanese shares are swinging from joy to sorrow by turns, reacting to news headlines linked to the new coronavirus," Okasan Online Securities strategist Yoshihiro Ito said in a commentary. As Tokyo trade started, US President Donald Trump held a news conference about the virus, saying the US was prepared to escalate its response to the novel coronavirus on a "much larger scale" should the pathogen continue to spread. The dollar was under pressure in early Asian trade, fetching 110.31 yen against 110.45 yen in New York late Wednesday. The falls in Tokyo came as global stocks finished mixed, somewhat stabilising after two bruising sessions on worries about the spread of the coronavirus. But two of the three key indexes in New York ended down, as investor worries over the broadening coronavirus epidemic competed with bargain-hunting impulses. On Thursday, Japanese shares sensitive to economic conditions were broadly lower, with blue-chip exporters Toyota trading down 1.18 percent at 7,437 yen and Sony down 1.86 percent at 7,022 yen. Trading house Mitsubishi Corp. was down 1.02 percent at 2,766 yen, crude oil developer and distributor Inpex was off 2.01 percent at 270.3 yen, and Sumitomo Metal Mining was down 2.05 percent at 2,818 yen. On Wall Street, the Dow ended down 0.5 percent at 26,957.59. kh/sah/je
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