Japan’s Nikkei share average edged lower on Friday, dragged down by technology stocks, as investors sought further direction from a key U.S. jobs report due later in the day and central bank meetings in the United States and Japan next week.
The Nikkei had eased 0.11% to 38,661.04 by the midday break, but was up 0.45% for the week.
The broader Topix inched down 0.04% to 2,756.02 and was set to post a 0.6% loss for the week.
“It was hard for investors to actively buy stocks ahead of key data and events,” said Jun Morita, general manager of the research department at Chibagin Asset Management.
“Particularly, the market was cautious about what sort of message the Bank of Japan (BOJ) would send when the global central banks are on track for rate cuts.”
The U.S. non-farm payrolls report due at 1230 GMT is expected to provide clues on the timing of Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.
Overnight, the European Central Bank (ECB) cut interest rates for the first time in nearly five years. The Bank of Canada pipped the ECB to become the first G7 country to cut rates in this cycle on Wednesday.
Among individual stocks in Tokyo, Shionogi tanked 14% after the company said its weight-loss drug failed to achieve the weight-loss target rate of 5% in a test.
Chip-related stocks Tokyo Electron and Advantest fell 0.78% and 2.29%, respectively. Technology investor SoftBank Group slipped 0.48%.
The brokerage sector fell 1% to become the worst performer among the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s 33 industry sub-indexes. The drug sector lost 0.91%.
Lasertec jumped 6.29%. It had earlier declined 9% for the week amid an allegation of improper accounting practices raised by Scorpion Capital, which the microchip equipment maker denied.
Of the 225 stocks on the Nikkei index, 125 rose and 97 fell with three flat.
(Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
