TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei fell on Monday, as heavyweight technology stocks tracked previous session’s weakness on their Nasdaq peers.

The Nikkei share average lost 0.71% to 26,793.46 by the midday break, after trading higher earlier in the session.

The Nasdaq dropped 1.34% on Friday amid the surge in the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note.

“Overseas investors sold Japan’s big technology stocks after the Nasdaq lost more than 1% on Friday, which pushed the Japanese market down,” said Shigetoshi Kamada, general manager at the research department at Tachibana Securities.

“But, losses were limited as domestic investors bought stocks on optimism that profits of Japanese technology companies might rise.” The broader Topix lost 0.61% to 1,885.18.

The index too gave up gains clocked during the session. Medical platform M3 was the biggest drag on the Nikkei, falling 4.7%, followed by air-conditioner maker Daikin Industries, which lost 3.05%. Chip-making equipment maker Tokyo Electron slipped 1.17%.

Energy shares led gains among the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s 33 industry sub-indexes, with utilities rising a 2.12% and oil explorers jumping 1.82%.

Tokyo stocks open higher tracking US gains

Japan’s Prime Minister unveiled on Friday a range of measures against Russia, including banning coal, raising prospects for a shift of the nation for more renewable and nuclear power energy, market participants said.

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings and Chubu Electric Power were the top gainers on the Nikkei, jumping 12.83% and 6.5%, respectively.

Kansai Electric Power gained 1.58%.