PrintJapan's Nikkei ends at over 2-week low as yen gains after Trump fires Fed's Cook
BY Reuters | ECONOMIC | 08/26/25 03:15 AM EDT(Updates with closing prices)
By Junko Fujita
TOKYO, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average ended at a more than two-week low on Tuesday, as the yen strengthened after U.S. President Donald Trump fired a Federal Reserve governor.
The Nikkei snapped a two-session winning run, falling 0.97% to 42,394.4, its lowest close since August 8.
The broader Topix slipped 1.08% to 3,071.99.
"The market was surprised with the news about Cook and reacted accordingly," said Shuutarou Yasuda, a market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Laboratory.
"Also, investors calmed down from the previous session, in which optimism about the Federal Reserve's policy loosening boosted equities. We will have to wait for more data until the Fed's policy decision."
Wall Street stocks ended lower overnight as investors parsed
the U.S. interest rates outlook and looked ahead to AI chipmaker
Nvidia's
The yen rose to as high as 146.99 to the dollar earlier in the session after Trump took the unprecedented action of removing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook from her position on the Fed's board of directors.
A stronger yen typically weighs on exporters' shares by reducing the value of overseas earnings when converted back into Japanese currency.
Toyota Motor
Uniqlo brand owner Fast Retailing
Chip-related heavyweights Advantest
Investors, who were late on catching up with the Nikkei's latest rally, seemed to have been buying stocks on dips, which is limiting the declines, Yasuda said.
All but one of the Tokyo Stock Exchange's 33 industry sub-indexes fell, with the drugmakers losing 2.42% to become the worst performer.
(Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Sumana Nandy and Rashmi Aich)
