Tokyo stocks close lower on profit-taking

TOKYO: Tokyo stocks closed lower Friday on profit-taking, with investors in wait-and-see mode ahead of earnings season and facing a dearth of fresh market-moving factors.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 0.44 percent or 125.41 points to end at 28,631.45, while the broader Topix index slid 0.21 percent or 4.00 points to 1,856.64.

"Profit-taking was dominant ahead of the weekend as investors await the earnings season that kicks off next week," said Yoshihiro Ito of Okasan Online Securities.

In Tokyo trading, Nissan dropped 2.10 percent to 555.6 yen after reports said it was partially pausing production at a UK factory due to virus-related supply delays.

Its bigger rival Toyota sank 1.08 percent to 7,660 yen while Honda fell 1.40 percent to 2,851.5 yen.

Panasonic jumped 3.27 percent to 1,463 yen in its fifth straight session of rallies, after it said Thursday it has developed a cool box for storing coronavirus vaccines.

Advertising firm Dentsu lost 2.19 percent at 3,130 yen after a report said Japan had internally concluded the postponed Tokyo Olympics need to be cancelled -- a claim officials quickly dismissed.

SoftBank Group fell 1.63 percent to 8,800 yen while Sony was down 1.17 percent to 10,480 yen.

The dollar fetched 103.66 yen in Asian trade, against 103.50 yen in New York.

Japan's core inflation, which excludes fresh food, was down 1.0 percent in December, while the headline figure for 2020 was down 0.2 percent, according to data released by the internal affairs ministry before the opening bell.