Japanese shares end lower, weaker yen caps losses

TOKYO, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei index closed lower on Friday as technology heavyweights tracked Wall Street's sharp decline, but the losses were limited after a weaker yen raised expectations for higher earnings from domestic companies. The Nikkei share average ended 0.66% lower at 27,513.13 and lost 0.57% for the week. The broader Topix shed 0.46% to close at 1,991.93 after touching a 2-1/2-month high in the previous session. The index posted a 0.25% weekly gain.

Wall Street ended sharply lower overnight after unexpectedly strong inflation data and a drop in weekly jobless claims added to fears that the U.S. Federal Reserve will keep raising interest rates to tame high prices. The strong economic data sent the dollar jumping to a new six-week peak against the Japanese yen. Technology investor SoftBank Group fell 2.19%, dragging the Nikkei the most, followed by chip-making equipment maker Tokyo Electron , which lost 1.7%. Staffing agency Recruit Holdings fell 3.95%. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries rose 1.17% after Japan's H3 rocket, which it co-developed with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA), failed to lift off on Friday.
Tyre makers jumped 3.6% to become the best sector among the 33 industry sub-indexes on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Bridgestone jumped 4.29% after flagging an 11.5% increase in net profit for the year to December.

Steel makers rose 2.36%, with Kobe Steel jumping 4.78% to become the best performer on the Nikkei.

Topix's value index inched down 0.05%, while its growth index declined 0.89%.
(Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Uttaresh.V)

Reuters

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off-the-wire

Japanese shares end lower, weaker yen caps losses

By Reuters

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