Japan investors take profits after best winning streak since 1987

Japan's Nikkei 225 index has closed down 1.5% as investors took profits ahead of the conclusion of a key central bank meeting tomorrow.

The Nikkei closed Monday trading at 10,748, having completing its tenth successive week of appreciation with a 2.9% gain last Friday - the longest winning streak since 1987. The index reached a 32-month high of 10,952 last Tuesday. Friday's rise, the largest single-day increase since March 2011, capped a 25% increase for the country's principal equity market since returning prime minister Shinzo Abe promised further policy easing. Investors' expectations that the Bank of Japan will finally take aggressive measures to counter the spectre of deflation, setting an ambitious inflation ta...