Nikkei closes flat for the day, Tokyo Electric down nearly 7%, SoftBank continues to drop by half, bank stocks continue to rise

Japan's Finance Minister Katsuyuki Kitagawa stated that he does not believe there is a divergence between the government's and the Bank of Japan's views on the moderate recovery of the Japanese economy. Previously, Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda hinted at a possible interest rate hike this month, contradicting the government's stance on a loose monetary policy. The yen fell nearly 0.3% during the Asian session, with the dollar rising to 155.78 yen. The Nikkei index opened 191 points higher this morning (2nd) after a sharp decline the previous day, but the gains narrowed, and it briefly fell by 59 points before closing flat at 49,303 points, with no change.

Major automotive stocks saw a slight increase in afternoon losses, with Mitsubishi Motors (7211.JP), Honda (7267.JP), Toyota (7203.JP), and Nissan (7201.JP) falling between 1.2% and 1.9%.

Tokyo Electric Power Company (9501.JP) continued to decline by 6.7% after a nearly 10% drop the previous day, SoftBank (9984.JP) fell by 5.2%, while Fast Retailing (9983.JP) rose by 1.8%. Hitachi (6501.JP) rose slightly by 0.6%, and Panasonic (6752.JP) fell by 3.5%.

Interest rate-sensitive major bank stocks continued to rise, with Mizuho (8411.JP), Sumitomo Mitsui Financial (8316.JP), and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (8306.JP) each rising between 2.2% and 3.1%