TOKYO: Tokyo stocks fell 1.20 percent on Friday amid concerns over the US economy and the yen's surge against the euro, driven by Europe's fiscal woes.
The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange lost 102.48 points to close at 8,440.25 while the broader Topix index of all first-section issues fell 1.47 percent, or 10.56 points, to 708.93.
"A full-fledged rebound in the equities market is unlikely, since the global economy is likely to remain sluggish, given lingering eurozone debt problems," said Mizuho Securities senior technical analyst Yutaka Miura.
The US lowered its estimate for first-quarter economic growth, to 1.9 percent from 2.2 percent, raising questions over how much of a rebound could be expected in the current quarter.
Also, data on weekly unemployment claims and private-sector job creation in May were disappointing, indicating slow improvement in the economy.
Wall Street finished lower on the back of the news, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average giving up 0.21 percent to finish at 12,393.45.
"Given the deterioration in the US economic indicators, a cautious stance is likely to be intensified ahead of key data releases (later Friday), which are the US non-farm payrolls figures and ISM manufacturing report," Monex chief strategist Takashi Hiroki told Dow Jones Newswires.
The figures added to already weak sentiment as Spain's banking sector teeters and Greece's political and economic future remains uncertain.
They euro dived against the yen in New York Thursday hitting 96.51 yen at one stage, its lowest since December 2000 but bought 96.82 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade on Friday.
The dollar bought 78.42 yen, up slightly from 78.33 yen in New York.
Exporters were hit by the stronger yen.
Sony plunged 3.52 percent to close at a three-decade low of 1,013 yen, while Mazda tumbled 4.00 percent to 96 yen following a report that it plans to cut 250 sales jobs at its US and European operations due to weakening demand.
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