TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei share average slipped on Friday, with investors locking in profits after four days of gains and ahead of a key US jobs report later in the day.
Chip-sector stocks were stand-out losers, dragged down by declines in Wall Street peers overnight.
The Nikkei shed 0.9% to 39,042.59, at the midday recess, after dipping to just six points above the psychological milestone of 39,000.
The broader Topix, which has a lower concentration of tech shares, declined 0.65%.
A sub-index of growth stocks dropped 0.79% vs a 0.52% retreat in value stocks.
Chip-testing equipment maker Advantest, an Nvidia supplier, sagged 3.18% to lose the most points on the Nikkei.
Chip-making machinery giant Tokyo Electron lost 2.66%. However, the Nikkei remains about 2.1% higher for the week, after tracking Wall Street’s rally to record highs.
“After four consecutive days of gains, caution in the market is increasing,” said Kazuo Kamitani, an equities strategist at Nomura.
“More and more investors are stepping back to wait for the US payrolls report.”
Japan’s Nikkei climbs on softer yen and Wall Street’s record high
Monthly non-farm payrolls data will be carefully parsed later in the day for fresh indications of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate path, with market-implied odds currently at around 73% for a quarter-point reduction on Dec. 18.
Meanwhile, a stabilization in the yen exchange rate at around 150 per US dollar boosted automakers, who had been pushed to multi-year lows in some cases on the currency’s rapid climb to a nearly two-month high earlier this week.
Nissan gained 2.09% and Mazda rose 1.54%. Toyota was an outlier, with a 0.19% decline.
Airlines were the top performers among the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s 33 industry groupings, gaining 0.67% amid depressed crude oil prices.
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