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| - Tokyo's Nikkei index inched down slightly on Tuesday, with investors in wait-and-see mode ahead of the Golden Week spring holidays and the announcement of corporate earnings. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index ended down 0.06 percent, or 12.03 points, at 19,771.19, while the broader Topix index was up 0.13 percent, or 1.90 points, to 1,449.15. The dollar fetched 107.24 yen in Asian trade, against 107.25 yen in New York. The Nikkei moved back and forth between positive and negative territory in early trade after US shares rallied on hopes that virus pandemic was easing. "The Nikkei index didn't go up because we are expecting holidays," Okasan Online Securities said in a commentary. The "Golden Week" holidays will begin with a day off on Wednesday, and continue next week. Major companies are beginning to announce their full-year earnings, with some already revising down forecasts amid the pandemic. Nissan announced after the market close that it was likely to report operating and net losses for the fiscal year through March due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The automaker had earlier projected operating profit of 85 billion yen and net profit of 65 billion yen, but they said the figures would be 120 to 130 billion yen lower for the former and 150 to 160 billion lower for the latter. In Tokyo trading, Nintendo lost 1.32 percent to 46,220 yen while Sony fell 0.23 percent to 6,763 yen. Uniqlo casual wear operator Fast Retailing edged up 0.04 percent to 49,000 yen, while SoftBank Group rose 0.39 percent to 4,610 yen. Panasonic jumped 3.03 percent at 797.1 yen despite its announcement it had revised down sales forecasts for the fiscal year through March because of the virus pandemic. 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-nf/sah/fox
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