TOKYO, April 28 — Tokyo’s Nikkei index inched down slightly today, 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 per cent, or 12.03 points, at 19,771.19, while the broader Topix index was up 0.13 per cent, or 1.90 points, to 1,449.15.

The dollar fetched ¥107.24 (RM4.37) in Asian trade, against ¥107.25 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 tomorrow, 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 and net profit of ¥65 billion, but they said the figures would be 120 to ¥130 billion lower for the former and 150 to 160 billion lower for the latter.

In Tokyo trading, Nintendo lost 1.32 per cent to ¥46,220 while Sony fell 0.23 per cent to ¥6,763.

Uniqlo casual wear operator Fast Retailing edged up 0.04 per cent to ¥49,000, while SoftBank Group rose 0.39 per cent to ¥4,610.

Panasonic jumped 3.03 per cent at ¥797.1 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 per cent, 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. — AFP