LONDON, May 1: British and Japanese shares fell on Tuesday as holidays closed many markets.

Wall Street looked set for a firm open with profits and deal news likely to fuel a rebound after Monday's losses.

May Day holidays shut most European bourses along with Hong Kong, South Korea, India, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

The Turkish lira and shares, which were rattled on Monday, fell again as investors, worried by a political crisis, awaited a court ruling on a challenge to the presidential election process. Turkish stocks were off 2.5 per cent.

Britain's top share index slid into May by dropping 0.4 per cent in idle trade.

Leading the decline, Britain's biggest pub operator, Punch Taverns, shed 3.7 per cent after reporting a 12 per cent rise in first-half pretax profit and saying second-half trading was in line with expectations but saying nothing on what it might do with its strong balance sheet.

At 1054 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 26.5 points, or 0.41pc at 6,422.7, with 75pc of its stocks in negative territory. The FTSE gained 2.2 per cent in April.

The FTS Eurofirst 300 was down 0.78 points, or 0.05 per cent, at 1569.4.

Shares in British building materials firm Hanson dipped 2.6 per cent after Merrill Lynch downgrades the company to “sell” from “neutral”. Shares in Northern Rock lost 1.7 per cent after Citigroup cuts its price target.

“The market seems to be quite happy just to tread water or just spend a bit of time mulling over what it ought to do next rather than making any decisive move one way or the other,” said Mike Lenhoff, chief strategist at Brewin Dolphin.

Earlier, Japan's Nikkei average ended 0.7 per cent lower, weighed down by weak profit forecasts from utility Kansai Electric Power Co. Ltd., electric power equipment maker Toshiba Plant Systems & Services Corp and auto maker Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. It lost 125.43 points to 17,274.98. The broad TOPIX index fell 0.46 per cent to 1,693.25.

Toshiba Plant slumped 9.6 percent, Kansai Electric fell 4.5 percent and Fuji Heavy, maker of Subaru cars, lost 2 percent.

Profit-taking on recent gainers also hobbled the Nikkei, with industrial robot maker Fanuc Ltd. down 3 percent. Japanese markets will be closed on Thursday and Friday for Golden Week holidays.

“It's kind of tough to find reasons to buy stocks at the moment,” said Katsuhiko Kodama, a senior strategist at Toyo Securities.

Markets in China are also closed this week for Golden Week, while Hong Kong, South Korea, India, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand were shut for May Day.

Shares in Australia, the only other major market open in the region on Tuesday, shed 0.3pc as the world's top miners fell, but losses were capped by continued takeover speculation that has been raging Down Under.

Medical testing company Symbion Health Ltd. climbed 4.4 percent after it received a share takeover approach, and oil and gas producer Santos Ltd. surged 3.4 percent on hopes that it would become an acquisition target.—Reuters