Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 1% on Wednesday as investors cashed in profits following the benchmark's record closing high in the previous session. The Nikkei ended the day down 1.06% at 51,961.98 points, while the Topix index declined 0.77% to 3,511.34 points.
The Nikkei had climbed 4% over the year's first two trading days, reaching a historic closing peak on Tuesday.
In contrast, the Topix Small Index edged up 0.39%. On the Tokyo Stock Exchange's main board, approximately 55% of shares advanced, 41% declined, and 3% remained unchanged.
Automakers Toyota Motor and Honda Motor both saw their shares drop by more than 2%.
Shares of Toyo Engineering, a developer of offshore rare-earth extraction technology, surged nearly 20% on Wednesday, hitting the daily limit-up price of 4,285 yen.
Conversely, chip-testing equipment maker Advantest fell 4.4%, becoming the biggest drag on the Nikkei index.
Uniqlo brand owner Fast Retailing declined 2.74%.
Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical's stock also soared 19.23% to its daily limit-up high of 6,200 yen after the company announced plans to go private through a management buyout valued at nearly 400 billion yen (approximately $25.5 billion).
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