Japan Stocks Weaken, Australia Shares Choppy Ahead of Rate Decision

(NewsCore) - TOKYO -- Japanese stocks started weaker, tracking a soft lead from Wall Street overnight, while Australian shares put in a choppy performance Tuesday.

The Nikkei Stock Average was down 0.2 percent, at 8,913.39, although the Topix traded flat.

Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. led telecom shares lower with a 1.1 percent decline after posting a 56 percent quarterly profit drop late Monday. Among others in the sector, NTT DoCoMo Inc. fell 0.2 percent, Softbank Corp. lost 0.9 percent and KDDI Corp. traded down 0.3 percent.

Shares of Suzuki Motor Corp. lost 1.4 percent after posting a profit slide of just under five percent during the April-December period.

Among gainers, shipping stocks moved higher after a recent slump, with Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. rising 2.8 percent, and Nippon Yusen K.K. up 1.4 percent.

In Sydney, shares were mixed, with losses for Macquarie Group and National Australia Bank countered by some strength in the more defensive areas of the market, ahead of an interest rate decision from the Reserve Bank of Australia.

The S&P/ASX 200 index traded flat at 4294.50. The index jumped 1.1 percent Monday to end the session at a level not seen since early December.

Shares of Macquarie Group Ltd. fell five percent after the firm said its fiscal year profit would fall by 25 percent compared to the year-ago period. The investment banking group blamed the expected result on difficult macroeconomic conditions for its capital markets and securities business.

On the retail side of the banking sector, National Australia Bank Ltd. shares dropped 3.4 percent after the lender stated that its first quarter cash earnings increased to AU$1.4 billion (US$1.5 billion), from AU$1.3 billion in the year-ago period.

The Australian central bank will announce its latest interest rate decision later Tuesday. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is widely expected to use its first meeting of the year to cut its key cash rate by another quarter-point to 4.0 percent.

The RBA cut rates in quick succession at the end of last year in an attempt to help soothe markets unsettled by Europe's ongoing debt woes.

US stocks closed lower Monday, coming off multi-year highs, as talks between Greece and its international lenders stalled.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 17.10 points, or 0.1 percent, to 12,845.13 after ending at its highest since May 2008 on Friday. The S&P 500 dropped 0.6 point, or 0.04 percent, to 1,344.33.

The Nasdaq Composite lost 3.67 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,901.99, coming off its highest close since December 2000.