TOKYO, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks fell Friday snapping a 6-day winning streak, with the benchmark Nikkei stock index losing 1.21 percent on caution ahead of key employment figures due out from the U.S. later Friday, which are expected to compound fears the recovery of the world's largest economy is slowing.
Traders here said that investors were opting to secure profits on the last day of the week and ahead of a 3-day weekend in the U. S. as consensus forecasts are for jobs data for August in the U.S. to disappoint.
August U.S. non-farm payrolls figures due out later on Friday are expected to show that 68,000 new jobs were created compared to last month's gain of 117,000. Some leading economists have downgraded their view from the market consensus to a mere 25,000 jobs.
Economists here are saying along with a flurry of negative macroeconomic indicators weak jobs data would send the dollar lower against the yen and threaten the outlook for Japan's key export sector.
"As people cut their forecasts for the jobs data, it's difficult for investors to take a position one way or the other," said Juichi Wako, a senior strategist at Tokyo-based Nomura Holdings Inc.
Wall Street's overnight decline ensured major Asian bourses were somewhat muted and a declining euro added to a sour market mood, with aspirations cast on new Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's Cabinet, inaugurated Friday, for lacking in political heavyweights.
Brokers said, however, that the market's reaction to Noda's Cabinet was negligible as all eye's were on securing immediate profits and the U.S. jobs data.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average fell 110.06 points from Thursday to 8,950.74, while the broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange dropped 8.50 points, or 1.09 percent, to close the week at 769.78.
Issues with a large exposure to Europe retreated on the euro's decline and consumer electronics giant Sony plunged 4.3 percent to 1,625 yen, while game console and software maker Nintendo lost 1.1 percent to 13,130 yen.
Japanese major automakers lost ground on profit-taking, with the world's largest carmaker Toyota skidding down 1.6 percent to 2, 711 yen and Honda declining 2.0 percent to 2,507 yen.
Financial issues were also seen underperforming the broader market on Friday, with top-lender and largest bank by assets Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. sinking 1.4 percent to 342 yen and smaller rival Mizuho Financial Group Inc. falling 2.6 percent to finish at 113 yen.
Telecommunications firm KDDI found favor, however, rising 0.7 percent to 577,000 yen, following Deutsche Securities upgrading its rating on the stock from "hold" to "buy" as well as upwardly revising its target price for the firm's stock.
Mobile communications firm NTT Docomo, meanwhile, gained 0.6 percent to close out at 140,500 yen.
Trading volume on Friday rose to 1.71 billion shares on the Tokyo Exchange's First Section, up from Thursday's volume of 1.70 billion shares, with declining issues outnumbering advancing ones by 1,049 to 441.
Source:news.xinhuanet