In Tokyo on Friday equities markets were lower as new consumer price information showed that the Japanese economy might not have completely emerged from deflation, with core consumer prices in September up by only 0.2 percent. The new data makes it fairly certain that the Bank of Japan will not raise interest rates anytime soon.
The Nikkei 225 ended the session at 16,669.07, 0.9 percent lower, while the Topix index dropped 0.8 percent to 1,650.73.
The automobile manufacturing sector managed gains on the session. Nissan was 2.5 percent higher to ¥1,424 even though its quarterly report was not up to expectations. Honda added 2.6 percent to ¥4,270 on an upgraded full-year outlook.
Sony added 1.2 percent to ¥4,880 in a mixed electronics sector. Matsushita dropped 1.8 percent to ¥2,530 before releasing interim figures, but after the session’s close it said it’s operating profits in the first half were up 21 percent.
Banks were lower on the CPI news, with Mitsubishi UFJ 1.3 percent lower to ¥1,510,000. Mizuho Financial dropped 1.9 percent to ¥937,000.