JAPAN TODAY


 

The Nikkei share average erased early modest gains and ended slightly lower on its final trading day of the year on Friday, but the index still gained nearly 20% in 2017.

The Nikkei ended the day down 0.08% at 22,764.94 points, while the broader Topix was also down 0.08% at 1,817.56.
Advancers outnumbered decliners 332 to 266, with 64 issues ending unchanged.

The stronger global economy, as well as domestic political stability and the Bank of Japan's ultra-easy monetary policy helped lift Japanese corporate earnings in 2017, which in turn helped push the Nikkei up 19.1% and the Topix up 19.7%.

For the week, the Nikkei edged down 0.6% as investors took profits ahead of year-end. But it was up 0.2% for December.

On Friday, the banking subindex was 0.7% higher, recouping some of its 1.4% fall in the previous session. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group gained 1.2%.

SoftBank Group gave up earlier gains and finished 0.1% lower after news on Thursday that a SoftBank-led consortium will buy a large number of shares of Uber Technologies Inc in a deal that values the ride-services firm at $48 billion.

Asahi Glass shares rose 2% after the Nikkei business daily reported that the company is expected to post an operating profit of around 125 billion yen for its fiscal year through Dec 31.


© Thomson Reuters 2017.