Nikkei index firms at end, focus turns to US jobs data

The Japanese Nikkei index ended trading today, Friday, almost unchanged, with anticipation of the release of US jobs data, while gains in technology stocks supported the index.

According to “Reuters”, the Nikkei index rose 0.10% to 32,130.94 points, after it fell below the level of 32,000 points earlier in the session for the first time since July 13.

The index lost nearly 4% in the past two sessions after the sudden downgrade of the credit rating of the United States, and recorded a weekly loss of 1.7%.

“It seems that the downgrade due to the downgrade of the United States credit rating has now stopped with the end of a round of selling by investors in the short term,” said Takehiko Masuzawa, head of trading operations at Philip Securities in Japan.

“However, investors refrained from betting on stocks before the release of US jobs data. And if the result is strong, the returns will rise, which may prompt investors to sell the shares

On Tuesday, Fitch downgraded the credit rating of the United States to AA+ from AAA, which led to a rise in Treasury yields in Japan and the United States and negatively affected stocks.

The broader Topix index ended its early losses, rising 0.28 percent to 2,274.63 points at the close, but lost 0.7 percent during the week.

Nintendo shares fell 2.91%, despite the increase in profits of the video game company in the first quarter of the year by 82% compared to the same period last year.

Kikkoman, the manufacturer of soy sauce, also fell 4.5%, topping the losses on the Nikkei index.

While Tokyo Electron, a chip manufacturing equipment company, rose 0.88%, providing the biggest support for the index. SoftBank Group shares fell 0.72%.

Advantest, a manufacturer of chip testing equipment, rose 0.34%

Among the 225 stocks listed on the Nikkei index, 130 rose and 93 fell, while two stocks remained unchanged.