finish Japanese Nikkei Index A five-session winning streak on Friday, tracking Wall Street’s decline overnight, as investors awaited key US inflation data that will guide the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy tightening path.
The Nikkei fell 1.49% to 27,824.29 points, below the key psychological level of 28,000, and retreated from an almost 5-month high of 28,389.75 points hit on Thursday.
However, the main index rose 0.23% this week, with gains for the fourth consecutive week. The broader Topix index fell 1.32% to 1943.09 points, but rose by 0.51% during the week.
The Nasdaq index fell 2.74%, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 2.38%.
The market is anticipating strong CPI data for the month of May, which will support the Fed’s tightening of monetary policy even with the risk of economic growth being stifled.
The owner of a local securities firm said Japanese investors are worried that the consumer price data will push US stocks lower and that they won’t be able to do anything until markets open in Tokyo on Monday.
Shares that are expected to grow at a much higher rate than the market’s growth rate, including technology companies, declined as the Topix index of growth companies fell 1.73%.
Shares of Advantest, a manufacturer of chip testing equipment, fell 4.2%, while chip maker Tokyo Electron fell 3.22%.
Shares of Fast Retail, the operator of clothing chain Uniqlo, and SoftBank 5Rub for technology investments fell 0.93% and 2.01%, respectively.
All 33 industrial sub-indices fell on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, as the machinery sector index lost 2.14%, becoming the worst performing sector.
Among the 225 stocks listed on the Nikkei, 189 fell, compared to 34 rose.
