A woman wearing a protective mask walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 and other Asian indexes at a securities firm on Sept. 29, 2021, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

       TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Tokyo stocks ended sharply lower Wednesday, tracking overnight losses in U.S. shares, while investors were cautiously watching the voting in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election, with the result expected after the close.

       The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended down 639.67 points, or 2.12 percent, from Tuesday at 29,544.29. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange finished 43.48 points, or 2.09 percent, lower at 2,038.29.

       Every industry category lost ground, except for air transportation issues. Major decliners were led by precision instrument and electric appliance issues.

       The U.S. dollar briefly edged up to the upper 111 yen range in the morning, its highest level since March last year, as the unit was bought after overnight advances in U.S. Treasury yields fueled expectations of a widening of the interest rate gap between the United States and Japan, dealers said.

       The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rose overnight to 1.56 percent at one point, its highest level since mid-June.

       Shares tumbled from the outset, tracking overnight falls on Wall Street following recent rapid rise in inflation partly caused by supply bottlenecks as well as rises in U.S. Treasury yields, brokers said.

       The Nikkei briefly sank more than 800 points, the largest points loss in about three months, and moved narrowly in negative territory in the afternoon as voting by LDP lawmakers began, the brokers said.

       The new LDP leader, chosen in a runoff between vaccination minister Taro Kono and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, will also become the next prime minister as the party controls the House of Representatives, the more powerful chamber of parliament.

       Kishida was elected the party president shortly after the market closed, though Kono was the favorite pick among media polls and LDP rank-and-file members.

       "Some news reporting Mr. Kishida's lead in the LDP leadership election were poorly received and contributed to the declines, as many investors believe Mr. Kono could better help the party in the lower house election" to be held this fall, said Makoto Sengoku, senior equity market analyst at the Tokai Tokyo Research Institute.

       "Mr. Kishida's economic policies raise worries about fiscal tightening such as a tax hike in the medium to long term," Sengoku said.

       The Tokyo market was also weighed by investors selling shares in companies that went ex-dividend on Wednesday ahead of the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal first half, brokers said.

       On the First Section, declining issues outnumbered advancers 1,768 to 336, while 50 ended unchanged.

       Renewable energy company Renova, which rose recently on expectations of a win by Kono, who has pushed green energy as a main power source rather than nuclear power, sagged 145 yen, or 3.1 percent, to 4,605 yen.

       Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, which operates nuclear power plants, climbed 14 yen, or 4.1 percent, to 353 yen.

       Among issues affected by weak U.S. shares, SoftBank Group declined 99 yen, or 1.5 percent, to 6,683 yen, Sony Group sank 480 yen, or 3.7 percent, to 12,440 yen and Tokyo Electron tanked 2,840 yen, or 5.3 percent, to 51,000 yen.

       Trading volume on the main section rose to 1,602.59 million shares from Tuesday's 1,506.77 million shares.

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