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| - Tokyo stocks fell for a fourth consecutive session Thursday following a rout on Wall Street, with investor sentiment weighed down by concerns about a rising number of coronavirus cases in Japan. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 1.37 percent, or 246.69 points, to close at 17,818.72 while the broader Topix index was down 1.57 percent, or 21.21 points, at 1,329.87. "Concerns are growing as infection cases are rising in Japan as well as in the US and Europe," said Masayuki Kubota, chief strategist at Rakuten Securities. "Japan at one point was considered a nation that was succeeding in containing infections, but the recent acceleration has prompted serious concerns," he said. "We assume that only the Bank of Japan has been buying massively this week." Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called on people to stay alert against the outbreak, saying: "We are holding out but if we loosen our caution even a bit, it could lead to a rapid increase in infections." Abe also reiterated plans to unveil a fresh economic package next week, telling parliament: "In order to bring the Japanese economy back on a steady recovery track, we will take bold, unprecedented action." Wall Street stocks were battered Wednesday as the human and economic toll from the coronavirus continued to rise. President Donald Trump has warned of "hard days" ahead and health experts said the US death toll could reach 240,000. Investors have braced themselves for weak figures in key US jobs data due out Friday. The dollar was trading at 107.19 yen in Asian afternoon trade against 107.13 yen on Wednesday afternoon in New York. In Tokyo, SoftBank Group jumped 2.53 percent to 3,768 yen after the global tech investor formally said it had terminated a tender offer worth up to $3 billion to acquire shares in US firm WeWork. Fast Retailing tumbled 2.40 percent to 40,940 yen as the Uniqlo clothing chain operator remained under selling pressure over the outbreak. Nissan plunged 5.54 percent to 323.4 yen and Toyota was down 0.69 percent at 6,287 yen. Nintendo dropped 1.47 percent to 41,330 yen but Sony gained 1.50 percent to 6,322 yen. mis-si/sah/amj
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