Tokyo stocks closed lower on Friday, snapping a four-day winning streak as investors waited to see how US-China trade talks will develop. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index slipped 0.18 percent or 38.72 points to 21,425.51. Over the week, it rose 2.51 percent. The broader Topix index ended Friday down 0.25 percent or 3.98 points at 1,609.52 but over the week it gained 2.04 percent.
Sentiment was low from early in the day after seeing weaker-than-expected US economic data, sending major US indices - Dow, S&P and Nasdaq - down 0.4 percent overnight.
Ahead of the weekend, investors opted to sell to lock in profits after the recent gains while continuing to monitor US-China trade talks.
"There is a strong mood to wait for any developments in the US-China trade talks," Okasan Online Securities chief strategist Yoshihiro Ito said in a note.
"It's difficult to make a (fresh) move," he said. The dollar was trading at 110.77 yen against 110.69 yen in New York.
Investor reactions were muted for government data that showed Japan's core consumer prices rise 0.8 percent in January from a year earlier, after a gain of 0.7 percent in December.
Among major shares, Toyota eased 0.16 percent to 6,720 yen and Sony fell 0.50 percent to 5,313 yen.
But IT investor SoftBank Group rose 0.43 percent to 10,275 yen.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019

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