Olympus was among the biggest fallers on the Tokyo stock exchange on Monday. The Japanese camera maker lowered its profit forecast for the full fiscal year, which runs until the end of March, after disappointing results in the past quarter.
The overall mood in Asian stock markets was also primarily negative. Investors remained cautious in anticipation of the critical US inflation figure, which will be announced on Tuesday.
Over the past week, several central bank officials, including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, have warned that interest rates will probably have to rise further to combat stubborn inflation. In addition, US retail sales will also be released on Wednesday. These may provide more insight into the impact of price increases on US consumer spending.
Geopolitical tensions between the United States and China also caused caution. The US military has shot down another flying object in the airspace. It was the fourth time this month that American fighters shot down a flying object. However, according to a White House spokesperson, the objects brought down over the US state of Alaska and Canada in recent days were “not much” like the Chinese balloon shot down off the coast of South Carolina on February 4 and were much smaller.
Japan’s main index, the Nikkei 225, ended 0.9 percent lower. Olympus fell nearly 3 percent. Electronics manufacturer Sony lost 1.7 percent, and Japanese tech investor SoftBank fell more than 1 percent. Investors also awaited the appointment of the new governor of the Bank of Japan, which will be announced on Tuesday. On Friday, Japanese media reported that Kazuo Ueda is expected to succeed Haruhiko Kuroda, who will step down from the central bank at the end of his second term on April 8.
The Chinese stock markets showed a mixed picture. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong fell 0.2 percent in the interim, and the main index in Shanghai rose 0.7 percent. The Kospi in Seoul lost 0.8 percent, partly due to a price drop of more than 3 percent of the South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix. The Australian All Ordinaries lost 0.2 percent.