Tokyo stocks drifted lower Tuesday in light trading before Japan's corporate earnings season gets underway in earnest, with traders looking ahead to a US Federal Reserve policy meeting.
While the Fed's board is not expected to announce any movement on monetary policy Wednesday, its post-meeting statement will be studied for clues about its interest rate plans and its timetable to winding up its bond holdings.
The meeting comes two days before second-quarter growth data for the world's top economy is released. A host of Japanese corporate giants also report earnings data this week.
"I don't expect anything special from the (Fed), but would like to check for any reaction from the currency market," said Yutaka Miura, a senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index slipped 0.10 percent, or 20.47 points, to end at 19,955.20, while the Topix index of all first-section issues fell 0.28 percent, or 4.50 points, to 1,617.07.
-AFP, Tokyo
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