to see how japanese stocks are reacting we head over to ramin mellegard. how are tokyo stocks looking? >> good morning to you, ai. let's check the opening levels for august 27th in tokyo and go into how events overseas may affect various sectors and shares. both indexes in the negative as you can see and investors becoming worried after john kerry said syria's use of chemical weapons is undeniable. there are concerned tensions regarding syria could escalate. judging by the way crude oil, gold and treasuries have traded higher, they are shifting funds into the relative safety of those specific assets so we'll check commodity related shares, some of the japanese trading houses. also looking at key durable goods exports, on monday the u.s. showed a 7.3% in july, the biggest fall in nearly a year. lot of companies export a large percentage of their products to the u.s. so a drop in durable goods orders or consumer confidence or consumer demand will be crucial to japanese companies so that's a big focus as well. we also need to monitor domestic issues here, dev

now we go to ramin mellegard standing by at the tokyo stock exchange. are we seeing further losses at the open? >> good morning to you, ai. yes. rising interest rates and as well as the currency modes you were talking to continue to play into shares here. let's look at the opening levels for august 20th here in tokyo. both indexes starting in the negative down 0.75% for the nikkei so investors now really having digested earnings in the u.s. and japan as well as key data here in japan, such as the trade data we had on monday, the next thing to really watch out for to move markets is going to really be the fomc minutes from the july 30th to 31st meeting, and really to gauge what federal reserve officials are thinking about the u.s. economy. that's going to be crucial. domestically obviously here also the big question is whether abnoma abenomics is kicking in and whether the yen has been supported through the prime minister's policy but we've seen the rising cost of imported fuel and energy and that's clearly evident from the trade data that we saw on mond

we head over to ramin mellegard for that over at the tokyo stock exchange. ramin, how are stocks at the open? >> more of the same negative reaction right here, ai. let's go straight to the opening levels for august 28th. you can see exactly what i'm talking about, down over 2%, 2.37% for the nikkei. 13,220 and over 2% for the top ix, as well, weighed down by the political risks. investors shifting money into what they consider safe haven assets, such as u.s. bonds and yen. and the stronger japanese currency is pushing stoke ostocks lower. oil prices also rising. traders fear a possible intervention in syria could cause further instability in the middle east, and possibly disrupt the flow of oil from the region. crude oil futures in new york rose almost 3% to the $109 levels. as you can see on the screen, that's the highest since february, 2012. now gold futures also risen to their highest levels in more than three months, rising 2%. so i'll be tracking key sectors in export and commodity-related shares. now, on tuesday, the nikkei's index with oil sector fell

ramin mellegard from the tokyo stock exchange. >>> economic minutes from the southeast asia nations have agreed to work to liberalize investment before december. japan's economy and trade minister met with his counterparts from ten asean nations. they discussed the deregulation of foreign investment and transparency of the approval process. >> translator: the asean nations understand that many japanese firms want to increase their investments, and expand the business in the region. japan and asean member nations agreed there's a need to strengthen ties. >> but officials from japan and those from emerging economies have different views on liberalizing investment. japanese officials are seeking full-scale liberalization, but the asean leaders want some safeguards. two the sides will hold a summit in tokyo in december to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the japan/asean relationship. they say they help to reach an agreement on investment by that time. that's the latest in business. i'll leave you with a check on markets. >>> responders of egypt's ousted president are facing some tough choic