Tokyo stocks wiped out early increases and closed lower on Friday as investors cashed in on recent gains.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index edged down 0.12 percent, or 27.38 points, to 23,619.69. Over the week, however, it jumped 2.6 percent.

The broader Topix index lost 0.49 percent, or 8.09 points, to 1,647.38, but advanced 2.4 percent from a week earlier.

Tokyo stocks had opened higher, extending rallies on Wall Street on revived hopes for US stimulus.

But shares closed in negative territory “due to profit-taking after the Nikkei showed a strong performance this week,” said Shinichi Yamamoto, a broker at Okasan Securities in Tokyo.

“Players will continue closely watching the US presidential election while paying attention to individual shares” as Japan will soon enter its interim corporate results season, Yamamoto told AFP.

The dollar fetched 105.84 yen in Asian afternoon trade against 106.03 yen in New York late Thursday.

Japan’s household spending in August was down 6.9 percent year-on-year, against market expectations of a 6.7 percent decline, according to data released by the internal affairs ministry before the opening bell.

The latest figure is the 11th consecutive monthly decline, after a 7.6 percent decline in the previous month, with the country suffering the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

In Tokyo, SoftBank lost 1.24 percent to 6,997 yen on profit-taking, as Toyota fell 0.95 percent to 6,967 yen with Nintendo down 0.34 percent at 58,130 yen.

But Uniqlo casual wear operator Fast Retailing surged 2.86 percent to 69,220 yen and Sony was up 0.38 percent at 7,862 yen.

Takeda Pharmaceutical jumped 1.55 percent to 3,712 yen after it announced that a Covid-19 treatment clinical trial it is involved in has entered its final Phase 3 stage with patients in the United States.

If successful, the project backed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases may eventually “become one of the earliest treatment options for hospitalised Covid-19 patients”, it said.

AFP