Japan Nikkei opens down, tracking Wall Street

TOKYO, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Japan's benchmark Nikkei average opened down at 0.14 percent on Wednesday, tracking losses on Wall Street caused by poor earnings results for large banks and high oil prices. High tech stocks were expected to be firm after better-than-expected results from U.S. technology bellwethers Yahoo (YHOO.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and chip maker Intel (INTC.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

As of 0005 GMT the Nikkei .N225 was down 0.4 percent or 69.88 points, at 17,068.04. The broader TOPIX index was down by 0.6 percent at 1,616.27.