TOKYO: Japanese stocks fell for the first time in four days, paring the Topix index’s biggest weekly gain since February, after weak U.S. economic data pushed the yen higher against the dollar.
TDK Corp., which gets 90 percent of revenue overseas, dropped 1.6 percent. Air carriers led declines on the Topix as Japan Airlines Co. dropped 3.1 percent after crude oil reached a four-month high. Digital advertising agency CyberAgent Inc. tumbled 4.3 percent as net income and sales missed analyst estimates. Kao Corp. slumped 2.8 percent after the cosmetics maker’s quarterly profit dropped more than half. Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. added 1.6 percent after announcing it will split shares.
The Topix lost 0.2 percent to 1,622.02 as of 12:39 p.m. in Tokyo, on course for a 2.1 percent weekly gain. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average dropped 0.5 percent to 20,082.63, paring its weekly increase to 2.2 percent. The yen traded at 119.61 per dollar after strengthening 0.3 percent yesterday as rising jobless claims and weak housing data cast doubt on the U.S. economic outlook. Manufacturing reports globally were weaker than expected.
