Nikkei inched down 0.2 per cent to close at 28,963.56, while the Topix edged up 0.1 per cent at 1,962.65.
Most heavyweights fell, with global start-up investor SoftBank Group slipping 1.6 per cent, while air-conditioner maker Daikin Industries down 3.1 per cent. Sumitomo Metal Mining was the biggest loser dropping 4.1 per cent decline.
Eisai Co was the biggest gainer, jumping 19.4 per cent, to its daily upper limit, after US regulators on Monday approved a drug jointly developed by the drugmaker and Biogen Inc’s as the first treatment to attack a likely cause of Alzheimer’s disease.
Daiichi Sankyo and Astellas Pharma also rose 4.9 per cent and 0.8 per cent, respectively.
Leading gains among sub-indexes on the Topix, pharma and sea transport sub-index rose 2.8 per cent each. Air transport and land transport rose 1.6 per cent and 0.9 per cent, respectively.
“The news on Eisai has given a boost to its peers as well as the overall market,” said Shoichi Arisawa, general manager of the investment research department at IwaiCosmo Securities.
“Investors are also scooping up Japanese shares which lagged behind their global peers, as prospects of an economic recovery has brightened amid a rollout of Covid-19 vaccines.”
An early gain for the Nikkei was snuffed out as investors were cautious ahead of the US consumer price index (CPI) report this week and the US central bank’s meeting next week, market participants said.
There were 105 decliners on the Nikkei index against 110 advancers, with 10 stocks unchanged.