Tokyo stocks close lower

TOKYO: Tokyo stocks closed lower Friday on profit-taking, with investors focusing on corporate earnings in Japan.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which opened higher, lost 1.89 percent, or 534.03 points, to end at 27,663.39, while the broader Topix index fell 1.64 percent, or 30.07 points, to 1,808.78.

Japanese shares rose in early trade "with gains supported by US rallies", Toshiyuki Kanayama, senior market analyst at Monex, said in a note.

But "investor sentiment grew cautious in the afternoon trade because of losses in US futures", Yoshihiro Ito, senior strategist at Okasan Online Securities, said in a commentary.

Traders are also waiting on earnings reports from many major companies from next week.

The dollar fetched 104.49 yen in Asian trade, against 104.26 yen in New York late Thursday.

In Tokyo trading, SoftBank Group dropped 2.13 percent to 8,108 yen, while Uniqlo casual wear operator Fast Retailing slid 0.70 percent to 89,820 yen.

ANA Holdings sank 2.41 percent to 2,200 yen, releasing third quarter earnings as the market closed.

Japan's biggest airline said it would maintain its forecast of a record $4.9 billion net loss for the fiscal year ending March 2021.

Its rival Japan Airlines closed down 2.61 percent at 1,863 yen.

Toshiba, which returned to the prestigious first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Friday more than three years after it was demoted to the second section, was down 0.43 percent to 3,415 yen.

Japan's jobless rate in December stood at 2.9 percent, flat from the previous month, according to internal affairs ministry data released before the opening bell.