TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market slipped into negative territory on Tuesday after touching a fresh 15-year high in early trades, as investors resorted to profit-taking after seven straight days of gains.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 19.92 points or 0.10 percent to 20,393.85, after rising to a fresh 15-year high of 20,456.43 in early trades.
Among the major exporters, Sony Corp. (SNE) is lower by 1 percent, Canon is edging down 0.09 percent, Nikon is declining almost 1 percent and Panasonic is down 0.8 percent.
In the tech space, Fanuc is edging down 0.08 percent and Casio Computer is losing 0.8 percent, while Sharp is adding 0.6 percent.
The Nikkei business daily reported that industrial conglomerate Toshiba will not pay a year-end dividend for the 12 months through March 31, 2015 because its earnings results will not be ready in time. Shares of Toshiba are edging up 0.05 percent.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will reportedly buy a stake in a new company that will be created by fiscal 2016 by Japan Tunnel Systems - a joint venture between IHI and JFE Engineering. Mitsubishi Heavy's shares are edging up 0.08 percent, while shares of IHI are down 0.7 percent.
Auto stocks Toyota and Honda (HMC) are lower by 0.4 percent each, while Nissan is losing 0.6 percent.
In the banking space, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (MTU) is declining 0.4 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is losing 0.2 percent and Mizuho Financial is lower by 0.5 percent.
Among the market heavyweights, mobile carrier Softbank is edging lower by 0.04 percent, while Fast Retailing, the operator of Uniqlo clothing stores, is down 0.08 percent.
Suntory Beverage & Food said it will buy vending-machine operations from Japan Tobacco for about 150 billion yen. Shares of Suntory Beverage are losing almost 1 percent, while Japan Tobacco is down 0.4 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Tokyo Tatemono is adding 0.3 percent. Meanwhile, Credit Saison is down 1.9 percent, NH Foods is losing 1.8 percent and Shinsei Bank is lower by 1.6 percent.
On the economic front, Corporate service prices in Japan were up 0.7 percent on year in April, the Bank of Japan said. That beat forecasts for an increase of 0.6 percent, following the downwardly revised 3.1 percent gain in March.
On a monthly basis, prices eased 0.1 percent after advancing 0.5 percent in March.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar was trading in the upper 121 yen range on Tuesday, up slightly from Monday's close in Tokyo.
The U.S. markets were closed on Monday for the Memorial Day holiday.
The European markets closed lower on Monday after a Greek official said the country may be unable to make a 300 million euro repayment to the International Monetary Fund on June 5 unless there is a deal with creditors. However, trading volumes were low as several European markets were shut for holidays.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX