Players took profits ahead of Tokyo's three day weekend starting Friday after a lacklustre performance on Wall Street, Tsuyoshi Segawa, equity strategist at Mizuho Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.US stocks closed mixed in listless trade Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 6.74 points, or 0.06 percent, to 12,239.89.

Players also kept to the sidelines as they awaited the release of Japan's October-December gross domestic product and China's consumer price index due next week.Investor sentiment was weighed down by "expectations that a string of rate hikes will follow China's rate hike," Segawa added.

China's central bank on Tuesday raised interest rates for the third time in four months, as authorities ramp up efforts to tame inflation amid fears it could trigger social unrest.Lingering tension in Egypt also remained a possible market risk during the long weekend, analysts said.

"There is no need to take risks now," said Yutaka Yoshii, general manager at Mito Securities.However, a recent run of upbeat earnings reports from Japanese firms provided support and prevented a broad sell off.

A weaker yen, especially against the euro, also cheered investors, analysts said. The European unit traded at 113.02 yen late Thursday compared with 112.43 yen late Wednesday in Tokyo.Before the Tokyo market opened, data showed Japan's core private-sector machinery orders edged up 1.7 percent in December from the previous month, the first rise in four months but far short of the expected 5.3-percent rise.

Among major shares, Nissan Motor dropped 2.80 percent to 868 yen on profit taking after gaining ahead of Wednesday's earnings report that showed net profit in the fiscal