Tokyo stocks close lower

TOKYO: Tokyo stocks closed lower Friday as the market was dragged down by disappointing earnings reports and sentiment hurt by a fall in US technology shares.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq's streak of all-time high closes ended Thursday with Apple, Google-parent Alphabet and Netflix shares all slumping.

Investors were also spooked after internet colossus Amazon reported its profit shrank despite surging sales as it poured money into growth, with its shares slipping three percent.

"With Amazon's earnings falling short of estimates, the US market may readjust its expectations," said Hideyuki Ishiguro, a senior strategist at Daiwa Securities.

"Investors are becoming increasingly wary over the historically low volatility levels, with a host of key economic data coming out in the United States," he told Bloomberg News.

The United States will announce second-quarter GDP later Friday while consumer spending, manufacturing and service-sector data are due next week.

The dollar eased to 111.02 yen on Friday from 111.24 yen in New York Thursday afternoon.

The Nikkei 225 index fell 0.60 percent, or 119.80 points, to end at 19,959.84. Over the week, the benchmark index fell 0.70 percent.

The Topix index of all first-section issues fell 0.35 percent, or 5.62 points, to 1,621.22. It was down 0.54 percent for the week.

In individual stocks, Nissan Motor lost 4.11 percent to 1,107.5 yen after reporting a fall in quarterly profits on Thursday.

Tokyo Electron, a market heavyweight and a leading manufacturer of microchip-testing devices, tumbled 7.15 percent to 15,705 yen after it left annual forecasts unchanged despite expectations of upgrading.

Toshiba, meanwhile, fell 10.87 percent to 239.2 yen as investors dumped the stock ahead of its demotion on Tuesday to the second section from the prestigious first-section.

The Wall Street Journal also reported that a number of creditors and others involved in the loss-hit conglomerate's restructuring are pushing for a bankruptcy filing.

Investors largely discounted a raft of Japanese economic data, which showed household spending turned up after 15 months of decline while inflation stayed tepid.