Tokyo stocks open lower on Wall St. losses

Tokyo stocks opened lower Thursday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street, after the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s March policy meeting included a projection that a banking crisis in the United States could trigger an economic recession.

In the first 15 minutes of trading, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average fell 98.12 points, or 0.35 percent, from Wednesday to 27,984.58. The broader Topix index was down 7.17 points, or 0.36 percent, at 1,999.75.

Decliners were led by mining, securities house and transportation equipment issues.

At 9 a.m., the U.S. dollar fetched 133.07-10 yen compared wi...