TOKYO: Japanese shares fell on Thursday after a four-day winning run, as investors sold tech stocks on weaker Nasdaq futures, worries over Sony Group's gaming business, and Panasonic's profit slide.

The Nikkei share average dropped 1.11% to 27,227.94 by midday break, while the broader Topix slipped 0.67% to 1,923.66.

All three Wall Street benchmarks ended higher overnight, but the mood looked sour in post-market trade when shares of Facebook-owner Meta Platforms Inc plunged as much as 22% after the company missed analysts' earnings estimates and posted a weaker-than-expected forecast.

"The Japanese market was dragged down by declines in US futures this morning, which fell because of the losses in Meta shares outside trading hours," said Takatoshi Itoshima, a strategist at Pictet Asset Management.

"And, Japanese companies seemed to have lost their momentum," Itoshima said, adding forecasts of some companies were strong but the overall growth in profit had slowed.

Shares of Sony Group fell 6.68% after four straight sessions of gains, as concerns about the company's gaming business re-emerged amid component shortages and competition from bigger rivals.

Panasonic lost 6.78% after the industrial conglomerate posted a bigger-than-expected 44% slide in third-quarter operating profit.

Other technology heavyweights also fell, with chip-making equipment maker Tokyo Electron losing 3.94% and medical technology platform M3 Inc shedding 9.57%.

Bucking the trend, NTT gained 2.22% after a report said the phone company's operating profit for the nine months through December would rise 3% to about 1.55 trillion yen.

Tokyo shares end higher on corporate earnings

There were 142 advancers on the Nikkei index against 80 decliners.