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| - Tokyo stocks opened lower on Tuesday after sharp rallies in the previous session, with trade cautious ahead of several holidays including on Wednesday and most of next week. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.21 percent or 41.00 points at 19,742.22 in early trade, while the broader Topix index slipped 0.34 percent or 4.92 points to 1,442.33. After the Nikkei index closed up more than 2.7 percent on Monday following additional easing from the Bank of Japan, trade on Tuesday "is seen moving in a narrow range", Toshiyuki Kanayama, senior market analyst at Monex, said in a note. The dollar fetched 107.26 yen in early Asian trade, against 107.25 yen in New York. The Nikkei was moving back and forth between positive and negative territory in early trade, after US shares rallied on hopes that the virus pandemic situation is improving. In Tokyo, some exporters were lower, with Sony trading down 0.46 percent at 6,748 yen and Toyota down 0.21 percent at 6,645 yen. Industrial robot maker Fanuc was up 1.65 percent at 16,905 yen while the Uniqlo casual wear operator Fast Retailing was up 0.78 percent at 49,360 yen. Panasonic was up 3.93 percent at 804 yen despite its announcement it had revised down sales forecasts for the fiscal year through March because of the virus pandemic. On Wall Street, the Dow ended up 1.5 percent at 24,133.78. Japan's jobless rate in March stood at 2.5 percent, worsening by 0.1 percentage points from the previous month, according to data released by the internal affairs ministry before the opening bell. The figure was in line with market expectations. kh/sah/jah
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