Japan Markets Open Lower; Nikkei Down Over 50 Points

Japanese stocks were trading lower on Tuesday. The Nikkei 225 dropped 0.27 percent, or 51 points to 19,107.00, and the TOPIX fell 0.25 percent, or 3.8 points to 1,527.55.

iShares MSCI Japan ETF EWJ shares fell 0.98 percent to close at $50.75, while iShares MSCI Pacific ex-Japan Idx (ETF) EPP fell 0.29 percent to close at $41.65 on Monday.

Shares of Nippon Telegraph & Telephone (9432) surged 3.5 percent after the company announced plans to buy back up to $1.3 billion in stock.

The U.S. dollar was trading mostly flat at 115.140 against the Japanese yen.

West Texas Intermediate for January delivery declined 0.36 percent to trade at $52.64 per barrel on the NYMEX, while Brent for February settlement fell 0.22 percent to $55.57 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange.

The Federal Open Market Committee will begin its two-day policy meeting today. U.S. markets closed mixed on Monday, with the Dow gaining 0.20 percent to 19,796.43, and the NASDAQ falling 0.59 percent to 5,412.54.

Top market movers among the Japanese market are as follows:

• Shares of Nippon Ichi Software Inc (3851) climbed around 19 percent to 1,304.0 JPY.
• Fuji Seiki Co Ltd (6400) shares rose around 15 percent to 162.0 JPY.
• Saylor Advertising Inc (2156) shares increased over 14 percent to 300.0 JPY.

• Kimuratan Corp (8107) declined over 13 percent to 7.0 JPY.
• Future Venture Capital Co Ltd (8462) shares dropped around 12 percent to 1,730.0 JPY.
• NJ Holdings Inc (9421) shares fell 11 percent to 2,851.0 JPY.