TOKYO: Japanese shares fell on Friday, dragged down by heavyweight technology shares, amid caution about rate increase after US Federal Reserve showed a hawkish move, while fears for the Omicron coronavirus variant hit travel-related shares.
The Nikkei share average fell 0.92% to 28,799.60 by the midday break, after rising more than 2% in the previous session. The index is set to post a 1.27% weekly gain.
The broader Topix was down 0.7% to 1,998.96 and on course to gain 1.19% for the week.
"Today's decline is a natural reaction to the Fed's monetary tightening. The market jumped yesterday because those who had shorted Japanese shares bought back stocks," said Tomoichiro Kubota, senior market analyst at Matsui Securities.
"Towards the end of the year, investors will remain largely cautious about the monetary tightening."
On Wednesday, the Fed said it would accelerate a tapering of its bond-buying stimulus to end the program in March, setting up three quarter-point rate increases next year.
The Bank of England overnight also surprised markets by becoming the first major global central bank to raise interest rates.
In Japan, technology shares tracked a sharp loss of the Nasdaq overnight, with chip-related Tokyo Electron leading Nikkei declines, losing 1.96%.
Air-conditioning maker Daikin Industries fell 2.17% and technology investor SoftBank Group 1.42%.
Travel-related shares were hit after a report on the first case of a domestically-acquired Omicron infection.
Airlines and railways lost 1.22% and 1.1%, respectively. Oriental Land, the operator of the Tokyo Disney Resort, lost 3.2%.
Mitsui & Co, up 1.58%, gained the most among the top 30 core Topix names, followed by Seven & i Holdings , rising 1.25%.
Hoya Corp down 3.90%, was the worst performer among the Topix top 30 stocks.
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