Tokyo stocks ended lower Wednesday on profit-taking as investors awaited the outcome of a two-day U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting later in the day.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended down 258.08 points, or 0.66 percent, from Tuesday at 38,876.71. The broader Topix index finished 20.36 points, or 0.73 percent, lower at 2,756.44.
On the top-tier Prime Market, decliners were led by pulp and paper, securities house, and marine transportation shares.
The U.S. dollar moved narrowly in the lower 157 yen range in Tokyo as a wait-and-see mood prevailed ahead of the release Wednesday of both the U.S. consumer price index for May and the results of the Fed policy meeting.
Stocks were in negative territory throughout the day, as market participants remained cautious about aggressively chasing the upside before key economic events in the United States and Japan.
"Investors are focusing in particular on the (Fed's) dot plot for clues on whether there will be one, two, or three interest rate cuts this year," said Yutaka Miura, senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities Co., referring to a quarterly chart that anonymously displays the interest rate projections of individual Fed officials.
Attention is also on whether the Bank of Japan will decide in a two-day monetary policy meeting starting Thursday to reduce its bond purchases in a step toward normalizing its monetary policy, Miura said.
Further adding to the downward pressure was profit-taking after the Nikkei rose to close above the 39,000 line over the past two trading days, analysts said.
