TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei ended lower on Friday, dragged down by heavyweight technology stocks which tracked overnight weakness on Wall Street, but losses were limited as investors bought back stocks at a dent ahead of the overseas long weekend.
The Nikkei index slipped 0.29% to close at 27,093.19, but gave up most of its losses and even briefly turned positive earlier in the session. The broader Topix fell 0.62% to 1,896.31.
For the week, the Nikkei lost 0.4% and the Topix was flat. Wall Street closed lower on Thursday at the end of a holiday-shortened week, as bond yields resumed their uphill climb and investors contended with mixed earnings and economic data.
“The direction of the Japanese market totally depends on the US market these days, with not much market moving cues in Japan,” said Takatoshi Itoshima, strategist at Pictet Asset Management.
“But the decline on the market was limited today because investors bought back stocks as they bet there would be no major moves on the markets overnight due to the long weekend in the US and elsewhere.” Chip giants Tokyo Electron and Advantest led declines on the Nikkei, falling 4.99% and 4.04%, respectively.
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Technology investor SoftBank Group slipped 1.21% and game maker Sony Group lost 2.52%.
Subaru fell 2.38% after the automaker suspended shipment of some of its three main automobile models over an engine sensor malfunction and also plans to temporarily halt production of the models.
Uniqlo clothing shop owner Fast Retailing jumped 8.83% and provided the biggest support for the Nikkei even after the retailer flagged a big profit drop in China due to COVID-19 restrictions.
There were 74 advancers on the Nikkei index against 148 decliners.
The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s main board was 0.93 billion, compared to the average of 1.34 billion in the past 30 days.
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