By Chao Deng
Stocks in Asia slipped Tuesday, with investors worrying about a
standoff between Greece and its creditors.
The Nikkei Stock Average was down 0.7% and Australia's
S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.5%, while Hang Seng Index futures were off
0.2%, tracking losses in the U.S. and Europe overnight.
Greece's government said Monday that it plans to cancel some of
its debt-reduction and economic-reform measures that are key
conditions for international aid, putting the country at greater
risk of default and reviving fears of it will exit the
eurozone.
"[Japan] stocks are due for a pullback, but the dollar's selloff
was not too steep and U.S. long bond rates continue to edge
higher," which provides support for the dollar, said Daiwa
Securities senior strategist Tsuyoshi Nomaguchi. The U.S. dollar
was down 0.1% at Yen118.43 against the yen early Tuesday.
"More volatility may be ahead due to philosophical differences
over how to service Greek debt, but thus far, stock buying by the
Bank of Japan as well as pension and other funds is stabilizing the
market, and holding steep selloffs to a minimum. That is not likely
to end any time soon," said Mr. Nomaguchi. He added that volume may
be thin ahead of Wednesday's holiday in Japan.
Japan's second-largest auto maker, Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., was up
3.0% after it raised its full year profit forecast Monday, helped
by a weak yen and strong sales in the U.S. Nissan's sales in the
U.S. pulled within 154,000 vehicles of Honda's in 2014, narrowing
the gap to nearly half of what it was a year ago.
Yoko
Kubota
and Bradford Frischkorn contributed to this article.
Write to Chao Deng at Chao.Deng@wsj.com
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