(Bloomberg) -- Japan’s Topix slipped on the last trading day of the year as the yen strengthened ahead of a four-day break for year-end holidays.
Almost all 33 industry groups on the benchmark measure fell, with electronics makers contributing most to the market’s early declines.
The yen maintained its advance against the dollar after rising 0.2% on Friday. The Topix is still set to cap an annual gain of more than 15% this year, its best such performance since 2017. The local market had staged a rebound thanks to a phase-one trade agreement between the U.S. and China that eased concerns for export-reliant Japan.
“The market will start off with a bit of selling given the slightly stronger yen,” said Juichi Wako, a strategist at Nomura Securities Co. in Tokyo. “There’s no need to take any big risks” ahead of China’s PMI figures and U.S. ISM manufacturing data, which will released when Japan is on holiday, he added.
Summary
- Topix -0.6% to 1,722.06 as of 9:41 a.m. in Tokyo
- Nikkei 225 -0.6% to 23,693.57
- Yen steady at 109.40 per dollar
- Electronics group: Sony -1%, Mitsubishi Electric -1.9%, Fanuc -1.7%