Business News
LEAD: Japanese stocks fall on strong yen
Jan 27, 2012, 6:41 GMT
Tokyo - Japanese shares closed lower Friday as export-oriented issues were dragged down by a strong yen.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 8.25 points, or 0.09 per cent, to end at 8,841.22 while the broader Topix index was down 3.48 points, or 0.46 per cent, at 761.13.
For the week, the Nikkei climbed 0.85 per cent and the Topix was up 0.74 per cent.
Exporters such as Toyota Motor Corp and Sony Corp declined as the yen rose against major currencies, hovering around the lower 77-yen range to the dollar. A strong yen makes Japanese goods more expensive abroad and erodes repatriated earnings.
Toyota fell 1.7 per cent, and Sony was down 1.39 per cent.
Shares in NEC Corp plunged 7.14 per cent after the company said Thursday that it would slash 10,000 domestic and overseas jobs and it expected to close the financial year that ends March 31 in the red with a net loss of 100 billion yen (1.29 billion US dollars), a reversal from a net profit of 15 billion yen it had projected.
The consumer price index declined 0.1 per cent in December from a year earlier for the third-straight monthly drop in a country that has been in the throes of deflation for a decade, the government said.
On currency markets at 3 pm (0600 GMT), the dollar traded at 77.03-07 yen, down from Thursday's 5 pm quote of 77.53-55 yen.
The euro was quoted at 100.94-95 yen, down from 101.59-63 yen late Thursday, and at 1.3101-3104 dollars, little changed from 1.3103-3105 dollars.
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