Japanese Shares Fall on Stronger Yen
The Nikkei 225 Index fell 0.5% to around 36,650 while the broader Topix Index lost 0.6% to 2,577 on Friday, paring gains from the previous session as the yen strengthened on hawkish signals from the Bank of Japan, pressuring equities.
BOJ board member Naoki Tamura said on Thursday that the central bank must push up short-term rates to at least around 1% through fiscal 2026 to stably achieve the 2% inflation target. A stronger yen hurts the profit outlook for Japan's export-heavy industries and forces investors to unwind yen carry trades.
Notable losses were seen from index heavyweights like SoftBank Group (-1%), Toyota Motor (-1.7%), Sony Group (-0.6%), Shin-Etsu Chemical (-0.6%) and Hitachi (-0.5%). The Nikkei is on track to gain slightly this week, while the Topix is set for a small weekly loss.
Source : Trading Economics