- Stocks went down even more before the US released its statistics on jobs.
- At the middle of the day, the Nikkei index was down 0.16 percent, or 45.40 points, to 27,616.07, a loss of 45.40 points.
- At 139.98, the yen was worth less than the dollar for the first time in 24 years. Overnight in New York, it was worth 140.20.
Before the US jobs report came out later in the day, stocks in Tokyo went down on Friday morning.
At the middle of the day, the Nikkei 225 index, which is the standard for the industry, was down 0.16 percent, or 45.40 points, to 27,616.07, while the Topix index, which includes more companies, was down 0.55 percent, or 10.56 points, to 1,924.93.
Related: Fed officials signalled additional rate hikes, boosting yields and Asian stocks.
At 139.98, the yen was worth less than the dollar for the first time in 24 years. Overnight in New York, it was worth 140.20.
Before jobs data that is expected to show that the US Federal Reserve is still committed to tightening money, bargain hunters helped the Dow and S&P 500 end their four-day losing streak.
Okasan Online Securities said that trade on the Japanese market probably won’t have a clear direction until the US jobs report and the ECB board meeting next week.
“Unless we see a break in the upward trend of US 10-year Treasury yields, it will be hard to actively pour money into the stock market,” the brokerage said.
Okasan said that while people looking for deals helped shares, tensions between the US and China and ongoing worries about a global chip shortage were putting pressure on the market.
When news came out that Nippon Steel and Toyota had agreed on a big price increase for steel goods, the stock price of the steel company dropped 1.30 percent to 2,207.5 yen.
Honda’s price went up by 0.14 percent, to 3,660 yen, while Toyota’s price went down by 0.29 percent, to 2,046.5 yen, and Nissan’s price went down by 1.21 percent, to 540.4 yen, a smaller competitor.
Related: Asian stocks are set for their best week in two months; the dollar is strong.
At 10,865 yen, Sony Group was down 1.23 percent, Panasonic was down 0.89 percent, and Murata Manufacturing was down 0.69 percent. Electronics were mostly down as a whole.
The company that runs Uniqlo, Fast Retailing, went up 1.56 percent to 82,020 yen, and a shipping company, Nippon Yusen, went up 0.48 percent to 10,420 yen.
