Japanese shares ticked lower in Tuesday morning trade, with shares in steelmakers and automakers still battered by concerns about US tariffs on imported steel and aluminium. The Nikkei average dropped 0.15 per cent to 21,791 while the broader Topix shed 0.1 per cent to 1,739.21 as their rally on Monday driven by strong US jobs data ran out of gas.
Steelmakers fell 1.2 per cent, while transport equipment makers lost 0.9 per cent, extending their underperformance since the US tariffs were announced on March 1.
Some market participants say a political scandal engulfing Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government is raising doubts about his ability to pursue economic reform, undermining stock market sentiment.