By Kevin Buckland
TOKYO, April 26 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average
dropped on Wednesday, pressured by overnight Wall Street
declines as worries resurfaced about the health of the banking
sector, as well as a possible U.S. recession.
Investors were also cautious ahead of the domestic earnings
season getting into full swing from Thursday and new Bank of
Japan (BOJ) governor Kazuo Ueda's first policy decision on
Friday.
The Nikkei , which had hit an eight-month high on
Tuesday, retreated 0.53% to end the morning session at
28,469.08.
The broader Topix slumped 0.7% to 2,027.86.
Robot maker Fanuc , chip-testing equipment maker
Advantest and financial giant Nomura Holdings are among the three dozen or so companies reporting results on
Wednesday, with that number increasing to more than 100 on
Thursday and more than 200 on Friday.
The market consensus is that the BOJ will keep policy
unchanged this week, but investors are still wary of surprises,
like the unexpected doubling of the 10-year bond yield policy
band in December.
"I think the risks are tilted towards the upside" for
Japanese stocks, Daiwa Securities equity strategist Kenji Abe
said, who predicts no action by the BOJ on Friday.
"I expect some companies to announce share buybacks this
week and in May, and that is likely to push up equities," with
the Nikkei challenging 29,000 in the near term, he said.
Banks led losses among the Tokyo Stock Exchange's
33 industry sectors, slumping 1.91% after First Republic Bank
reported plunging deposits.
Regional lender Chiba Bank was the worst performing
financial stock on the Nikkei, dropping 2.38%, followed by a
2.33% decline for Concordia Financial and Mizuho falling 2.31%.
Mitsubishi Motors <7211.T) was the biggest decliner,
dropping 2.57%. The automaker said after the close on Tuesday it
would take a one-time charge of about $78 million related to
slowing sales at its China unit.
(Editing by Rashmi Aich)
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