Tokyo stocks slipped Friday ahead of a holiday-shortened week in Japan, with investors little moved by news that the central bank will keep its massive stimulus programme humming. Shortly before markets opened, a string of government data showed inflation picked up in March but the upbeat figures were offset by a drop in factory output and still-weak household spending.
Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 0.29 percent, or 55.13 points, to 19,196.74, but jumped 3.09 percent over the week. The Topix index of all first-section shares declined 0.32 percent, or 4.87 points, to 1,531.80, but gained 2.90 percent over the five days.
"Some investors are unloading shares to cut their risk ahead of (the holiday)," Hikaru Sato, a senior technical analyst at Daiwa Securities, told AFP. "And they're cashing in on recent gains." Next week, the Japanese market will be open on Monday and Tuesday followed by three days of national holidays. On Thursday, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said policymakers would keep the monetary stimulus taps running until a two-percent inflation target had been achieved.
He also acknowledged that reaching the goal, already running four years late, would be delayed once again. The BoJ's stimulus tends to weigh on the yen, which is a plus for Japanese shares as it boosts exporters' profitability. The dollar was changing hands at 111.15 yen, down from 111.24 yen in New York late Thursday.
Sony, Honda and Japan's top airlines were among companies reporting financial results after the market closed Friday, as earnings season gets into full swing. Sony said it expects net profit in the current fiscal year to more than triple owing mainly to gains in its smartphone component business. Its shares edged down 0.07 percent to 3,759 yen before the announcement.
Nintendo jumped 2.11 percent to 28,045 yen after saying Thursday that it expected to sell 10 million units of the new Switch game console over the next year, as it bets big on the successor to its poor-selling Wii U. The announcement came as Nintendo's net profit in the just-ended business year soared more than six-fold, largely owing to the sale of a major stake in the Seattle Mariners professional baseball team in the United States.
Toyota dropped 1.34 percent to 6,035 yen and Honda lost 0.40 percent to 3,232 yen. Sharp, which announced a 90 percent decline in its full-year net loss after the market closed, fell 4.96 percent to 402 yen.
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