Tokyo shares falter on weak Asia markets, profit-taking

Tokyo shares closed lower on Friday, with investors cautious on soft Asian markets and weak corporate earnings, and profit-taking ahead of a long weekend.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index gave up 0.39 percent or 88.21 points to 22,329.94, but made a weekly gain of 2.86 percent, driven up by robust US shares.
The broader Topix index lost 0.20 percent or 3.14 points to 1,546.74, but advanced 3.39 percent over the week.

The Tokyo market took a lead from overnight gains on Wall Street and opened slightly above the previous day's close before investors began squaring positions and locking in profits ahead of a three-day weekend in Japan.

Semiconductor-related shares suffered particular falls after some of them issued weak earnings for three months to June, with more troubles ahead.
SUMCO, a major silicon wafers maker, plunged 8.97 percent to 1,491 yen, after issuing weak earnings Thursday due mainly to business disruptions stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.

Advantest Corp, the world's largest manufacturer of test equipment for semiconductors, lost 4.77 percent to 5,190. Tokyo Electron, a major manufacturer of tools to produce semiconductors, gave up 2.19 percent to 27,940 yen.

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"The Nikkei started the day in positive territory, supported by gains on the three major US indices. But the market was later weighed down by some semiconductor shares as well as other firms that released weak corporate earnings," SBI Securities said in a note to clients.

"Falls of the SSE Composite index of Shanghai and the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index also encouraged selling" in Tokyo, SBI added.

Many investors took a wait-and-see stance ahead of the release of US jobs data as well as the three-day weekend in Japan, said Okasan Online Securities in a note.

The Tokyo market will reopen on Tuesday after closing Monday for a national holiday.

Players bought firms with strong earnings, including video game firms that have enjoyed robust demand as people around the world stay at home during the pandemic.

Nintendo added 2.58 percent to 50,460 yen. Sony shed earlier losses to end up 0.67 percent to 8,525 yen. Game publisher and toymaker Bandai Namco Holdings roared up 6.44 percent to 6,527 yen.

Shiseido lost 8.64 percent at 5,540 yen after the cosmetics firm issued a full-year net loss forecast.

The dollar fetched 105.54 yen in Asian trade, against 105.52 yen in New York late Thursday.

A survey released by Japan's internal affairs ministry early Friday showed June household spending in the world's third-largest economy fell 1.2 percent year on year, after a 16.2 percent plunge in May.

The latest data was much better than market consensus of a 7.8 percent decline.

Agence France-Presse