Japanese stocks edged lower on Friday as Shinsei Bank tumbled on profit-taking a day after its strong market debut, and chip-related issues weakened on disappointing US data.
A drop in the yen helped some blue chip exporters such as Japan's third-largest auto-maker Nissan Motor Co but gains made in trade were trimmed by the close.
"The fall in the Nasdaq overnight was largish and key industry data for chip equipment makers fell in January," said Tsuyoshi Nomaguchi, a strategist at Daiwa Securities.
"And we have had a cooling of the Shinsei fever." After spending much of the tiptoeing in and out of positive territory, the Nikkei average ended down 0.31 percent or 33.11 points at 10,720.69.
That followed a 0.72 percent rise in the previous session.
In a week dominated by Shinsei's initial public offering (IPO) and robust Japanese economic growth data for the October-December quarter, the Nikkei climbed 1.54 percent.
The broader TOPIX index also fell slightly on Friday, down 0.07 percent at 1,058.76.
Shinsei, the first Japanese bank to be turned around by foreigners, plunged 9.55 percent to 748 yen on profit taking after its on Thursday market debut, where it ended 58 percent above its IPO price.
The fall in Shinsei, the most active stock in terms of volume and value for the second day in a row and the biggest percentage loser for the day, in turn helped put a lid on other activity.
"Short-term funds are looking to see where Shinsei's price settles before they move anywhere else," said Fumiyuki Nakanishi, chief strategist at SMBC Friend Securities.
"And we've seen selling ahead of the eight IPOs slated for next week. There's no doubt that there's not a lot of buying momentum in the market."
Chip testing device maker Advantest Corp fell 2.25 percent to 8,250 yen following a drop in US tech stocks and data showing the ratio of North American chip equipment orders to shipments, known as the book-to-bill ratio, dropped in January.
California-based Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) said the book-to-bill ratio for North American manufacturers of microchip-making gear was 1.18 in January, down from 1.23 in December.
But some exporters managed to advance as the dollar climbed to one-month highs for the third consecutive day.
Dealers said many traders had given up for the time being at least their short dollar positions as heavy Japanese intervention seemed to have succeeded in halting the currency's slide at around 105 yen.
Nissan rose 1.75 percent to 1,166 yen while chips-to-computers conglomerate NEC Corp climbed 2.16 percent to 805 yen. Electronics giant Sony Corp ended up 1.1 percent at 4,580. Decliners outnumbered gainers 752 to 610.
Volume dropped a notch, with 1.025 billion shares changing hands on the first section, the lowest since on Thursday last week.
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