Tuesday December 5, 11:39 pm Eastern Time
Tokyo stocks off highs on cross-held share selling
TOKYO, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Tokyo stocks were off highs in mid-afternoon trade on Wednesday due to selling of cross-held shares by corporations, brokers said.
Follow-through buying was also curbed by growing concern that the Nasdaq's record-setting rally the previous day was excessive, especially as personal computer maker Apple Computer Inc (NasdaqNM:AAPL - news) issued a sales warning after U.S. markets closed.
As of 0415 GMT, the Nikkei-225 stock average was up 310.12 points or 2.11 percent at 15,005.17, a hair above the psychologically important 15,000 level.
The index had risen to 15,109.64 in early trade as investors were cheered by Wall Street's enthusiastic response to the possibility the U.S. central bank may cut interest rates to prevent an excessive slowdown in the U.S. economy.
December Nikkei futures in Osaka <0#JNI:> was up 270 points at 14,990, off a morning high of 15,130.
The broader TOPIX index (^TOPX - news) rose 21.25 points or 1.55 percent to 1,387.91. |
