Japanese stocks closed lower on Friday, with the Nikkei 225 index down 1.76% at the end of the session. Selling pressure primarily came from the paper & pulp, transportation, and communications sectors, which all weakened, dragging the index into the red. Overall, sentiment in the Tokyo market tended to be defensive, with more investors opting to reduce risk ahead of the weekend.

Despite the steep decline in the index, several stocks performed remarkably well. Toppan Printing Co. was the star of the day, surging nearly 14% to 4,244 yen per share. Tokyo Tatemono also stole the spotlight, rising more than 10% to 3,305 yen, even hitting a five-year high. Toray Industries joined the list of top gainers, gaining around 9.4% to 1,039 yen at the end of the session.

Meanwhile, the heaviest selling pressure hit Ebara Corp., which plunged around 13.6% to 3,926 yen. Furukawa Electric fell nearly 9.5% to 9,823 yen, while Rakuten weakened by around 9.4% to 951.90 yen. Overall, the number of declining stocks far outnumbered the rising ones: approximately 2,235 stocks fell, 1,396 stocks rose, and 200 stocks remained unchanged. Interestingly, the Nikkei volatility index actually fell almost 5% to 27.49, indicating that market participants were not yet fully panicked despite the correction.

In terms of commodities and foreign exchange, movements were also quite dynamic. The price of WTI oil for the December contract rose around 1.5% to USD 59.58 per barrel, while Brent for January contract rose 1.36% to around USD 63.87 per barrel. December gold futures actually fell slightly by 0.4% to USD 4,177.55 per troy ounce. In the foreign exchange market, USD/JPY tended to be flat at 154.56, while EUR/JPY strengthened slightly to 179.90. The US Dollar Index edged up 0.03% to 99.08, signaling that today's movement was driven more by regional factors in Japan and sector sentiment than by major currency shocks. (Asd)
Source: Bloomberg.com