TOKYO, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks closed lower Wednesday as the market mood was dampened by trade woes between the United States and the European Union (EU), coupled by concerns over the International Monetary Fund's lower growth outlook.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average lost 115.02 points, or 0.53 percent, from Tuesday to close the day at 21,687.57.
The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, fell 11.10 points, or 0.69 percent, to finish at 1,607.66.
The market mood was risk-off from the get-go, local traders said, following a decline in U.S. shares overnight.
They highlighted that the IMF on Tuesday revising down its global growth forecast in 2019 by 0.2 percentage point to 3.3 percent, sparked concerns for the outlook of the global economy, with Japan's outlook being cut by by 0.1 point to 1.0 percent, reigniting concerns about a slowdown in its key export sector.
"The market reacted sensitively as the fear for economic slowdown grew stronger," Shingo Ide, chief equity strategist at the NLI Research Institute, was quoted as saying.
Resurgent trade concerns between the United States and the EU rattled the market Wednesday, following remarks made by U.S. President Donald Trump threatening to slap more tariffs on imports from the EU.
"The next thing the market is worried about is European tariff matters. This news is stoking concerns that the United States may target other regions in the future," Nobuhiko Kuramochi, a strategist at Mizuho Securities, was quoted as saying on the matter.
Other strategists concurred, with Chihiro Ota, general manager of investment research at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc., noting that the reemerging trade woes "cooled investor sentiment."
Oil refiners and related issues came under pressure Wednesday, following a drop in prices for crude oil, with investors opting to secure profits from the sectors' recent rise.
JXTG Holdings, thus, lost 2.5 percent, while Idemitsu Kosan dropped 3.7 percent by the close.
Tech and export-related issues exposed to external economic drivers, traded lower on the latest concerns for the global economy.
Game and console maker Nintendo Co. declined 1 percent, while Sony Corp. closed the day 2.5 percent lower.
TDK Corp. and Hitachi Ltd. both lost 1.6 percent by the close.
Following the first-ever crash of an F-35A fighter jet, which occurred on Tuesday off northeastern Japan, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries lost ground as it assembled the Lockheed Martin Corp. stealth fighter at its plant in Aichi Prefecture.
Mitsubishi Heavy closed down 1.2 percent, with concerns mounting as the Japanese government may reevaluate its planned acquisition of a total of 105 F-35As and 42 of the short take off variant F-35B multi-role stealth fighters, which were set to become Japan's next-generation mainstay fighter, prior to the crash.
Bucking the downward trend Wednesday, Suruga Bank surged 16 percent, following a report saying the bank was in talks with four other companies about providing financial assistance.
Japan Post Holdings was among the day's notable decliners, however, after the Finance Ministry said it will sell off its stake in the postal group and is inviting other banks to bid for shares in the sale.
The postal group ended the day 2.9 percent lower.
By the close of play, oil and coal product, mining and construction-linked issues comprised those that declined the most, and issues that fell outpaced those that rose by 1,572 to 485 on the First Section, while 83 ended the day unchanged.
On the main section on Wednesday, 1,122.75 million shares changed hands, rising from Tuesday's volume of 1,105.44 million shares.
The turnover on the third trading day of the week came to 1,967.4 billion yen (17.70 billion U.S. dollars).
