TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei share average fell on Friday, tracking Wall Street’s declines overnight and as a stronger yen weighed on exporters.
The Nikkei was down 1.7% at 37,076.86, as of 0144 GMT, while the broader Topix slipped 1% to 2,723.55.
Wall Street stocks finished lower on Thursday, with the Nasdaq confirming it has been in a correction since December, weighed down by market jitters over the uncertainty surrounding US trade policy.
The Nasdaq has fallen 10.4% from a record-high close on December 16, meeting a widely used definition of a correction.
An index of chipmakers dropped 4.5% overnight.
“We saw some negative cues for Japanese shares, such as overnight declines of US stocks and a stronger yen,” said Kentaro Hayashi, a senior strategist at Daiwa Securities.
Chip-making equipment maker Tokyo Electron fell 2.66% and chip-testing equipment maker Advantest lost 1.25%.
Technology investor SoftBank Group fell 2.5%.
Automakers also fell after the yen rose to a five-month high against the dollar overnight. Toyota Motor lost 0.78% and Honda Motor fell 0.83%.
A stronger Japanese currency tends to hurt shares of exporters, as it decreases the value of overseas profits in yen terms when firms repatriate them to Japan.
Nissan Motor reversed early losses to rise 2.25% after a report said its directors were due to gather on March 11 to discuss potential successors for CEO Makoto Uchida.
“We have some positive news, such as rising wages in Japan.
Nikkei closes at 3-month low as tech shares drag
That could lift domestic demand,“ said Hayashi.
Japan’s largest labour union umbrella group, Rengo, is seeing its member unions demand the biggest salary increase in over 30 years as both the government and central bank look for signs of sustainable wage growth to drive the economy.
Of the more than 1,600 shares trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange prime market, 33% rose, 62% fell and 3% traded flat.
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