国际英语新闻：Nikkei falls 0.25% ahead of Fed meeting

TOKYO, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks extended losses Tuesday with the key nikkei stock index shedding 0.25 percent as caution ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy meeting erased early gains and the yen's strength against the U.S. dollar continued to weigh on the market mood.

Brokers said that despite robust performances of stocks on Wall Street overnight -- with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended at a four-month high -- briefly sending the Nikkei to a seven-week intraday high, profit-taking and investors opting to hit on the sidelines ahead of the Fed's meeting chipped away at gains.

"It's natural that we saw falls in stocks given that they have rallied and the FOMC is coming up," said Fumiyuki Nakanishi, general manager at SMBC Friend Securities Co., adding that the focus is on what the U.S. central bank will say in its post- meeting statement.

"Eyes are on currency moves after the FOMC, because they would sway Japanese stocks," Nakanishi said.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended 23.98 points lower from Friday to 9,602.11, while the broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was down 2.15 points, or 0.25 percent, to 849.94.

"The intervention helped boost the Nikkei last week but fundamentally nothing's changed either in the U.S. or Japanese economy," said Nagayuki Yamagishi, a strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.

"The fact that Japan did the intervention on its own also means there are limits to the long-term impact."

The yen appreciated on Tuesday to as much as 85.49 against the U.S. dollar in Tokyo from 85.72 at the close of stock trading on Sept. 17.

Against the euro, the yen traded at 111.87 compared with 112.61.

A strong yen has severely hampered japan's export-led recovery as when the yen is strong, Japanese products become less competitive abroad and profits are eroded when repatriated.