Tokyo stocks close lower, extending US falls

Tokyo stocks closed lower on Tuesday after Wall Street stocks slumped on worries about China's zero-Covid policy.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index ended down 0.48 per cent, or 134.99 points, at 28,027.84, while the broader Topix index slipped 0.57 per cent, or 11.34 points, to 1,992.97.

Frustration over China's hardline Covid restrictions has sparked a weekend of rare protests nationwide, and security forces have filled the streets of major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.

Investors are also shifting their attention to a speech by US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell this week, Mizuho Securities said in a note.

After early sell-offs following losses on Wall Street, "a wait-and-see attitude was likely to grow" ahead of Powell's speech, the brokerage said.

The dollar fetched 138.52 yen in Asian trade, against 138.87 yen in New York late Monday.

Sony Group lost 1.22 per cent to 11,370 yen, SoftBank Group fell 1.37 per cent to 5,959 yen, and Toyota closed down 1.35 per cent at 2,005.5 yen.

Pharmaceutical company Eisai plunged 6.22 per cent to 8,988 yen after a report said a woman had died in a trial of the firm's Alzheimer's treatment.

Japan's jobless rate stood at 2.6 per cent in October, unchanged from the previous month, official data released before the opening bell showed.

The data did not prompt a strong market reaction.