At 0158 GMT, the Nikkei index held its ground at 27,425.39. The broader Topix was down 0.12% at 1,990.82. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.71, the S&P 500 lost 0.30% and the Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.1%.
Wall Street closed out February in subdued fashion with each of the three major indexes ending with monthly losses, as investors continue to assess whether U.S. interest rates will remain high for an extended period of time. "Amid the absence of market-moving cues, investors held back from buying stocks," said Shoichi Arisawa, general manager of the investment research department at IwaiCosmo Securities. "At a time like this, they tend to sell outperforming stocks to book profits."
In Japan, shipping firms fell 2.77% to become the worst performer among the 33 industry sub-indexes on the Tokyo Exchange, after posting a more than 9% gain so far this year.
Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and Nippon Yusen lost 2.95% and 2.83%, respectively.
The banking sector , which has risen 9% so far this year, slipped 0.64%.
Uniqlo brand owner Fast Retailing lost 0.45% and drugmakers Daiichi Sankyo and Chugai Pharmaceutical fell 2.31% and 1.92%, respectively.
Bucking the trend, shares of Ajinomoto jumped 10.43% after the processed food maker raised its annual profit forecast and announced progressive dividend policy, providing support to the benchmark index.
"Improvement on shareholder returns by companies with robust earnings reflects in their stock prices immediately," Arisawa said. The food and drink maker index rose 0.54%, with Yakult Honsha , the maker of Yakult drink, rising 0.54%.
(Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
