Tokyo stocks open lower extending US falls

TOKYO: Tokyo stocks opened lower on Friday, with investors disheartened by falls on Wall Street and all eyes on US jobs data due later in the day.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.72 percent, or 210.35 points, at 28,847.76 in early trade, while the broader Topix index slipped 0.34 percent, or 6.59 points, to 1,952.11.

"Japanese shares are starting with falls following weak US shares, with investors tending to take a wait-and-see attitude ahead of the US jobs data," Toshiyuki Kanayama, senior market analyst at Monex, said in a note.

Tech shares led US equities lower as markets shrugged off a batch of strong economic data ahead of the official May jobs report.

The dollar fetched 110.27 yen in early Asian trade, against 110.24 yen in New York late Thursday.

In Tokyo, Panasonic was down 0.79 percent at 1,252 yen, Olympus was off 0.44 percent at 2,272.5 yen and Canon slipped 0.60 percent to 2,568.5 yen.

But Japan Steel rose 1.50 percent at 2,029.5 yen and Toyota was up 0.92 percent at 9,880 yen.

Japan's household spending soared 13.0 percent year-on-year in April, better than market expectations of 8.7 percent, according to data released by the internal affairs ministry before the opening bell.

The latest figure, which mostly reflects the depth of the plunge at the same time last year during a virus state of emergency, did not prompt strong market reaction.

Analysts have said Japan's path to economic recovery will depend on how it controls infections as the country battles a fourth coronavirus wave.

On Wall Street, the tech-rich Nasdaq fell 1.0 percent while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1 percent to close at 34,577.04 and the broad-based S&P shed 0.4 percent.