The Nikkei 225 Index Closes 1.15% Lower

The Nikkei 225 Index fell -628 points or 1.15 percent on Friday to close at 53825 points. Leading the losses are Honda Motor (-5.70%), Renesas Electron (-4.93%) and Ebara (-4.80%).

The Nikkei 225 Index fell 1.16% to close at 53,820, while the broader Topix Index lost 0.57% to 3,629 on Friday, sliding for the second straight session and tracking losses on Wall Street overnight as oil prices soared on disruptions from the Middle East war. Oil rallied after Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, vowed to keep the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed, while intensifying attacks on regional oil and transport infrastructure. Meanwhile, Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda cautioned that a weak yen could heighten imported inflation as oil prices rise, potentially prompting the central bank to accelerate policy normalization. Technology and auto stocks led the downturn, with steep losses from Advantest (-3.5%), SoftBank Group (-4.5%), Tokyo Electron (-3.6%), Toyota Motor (-2.8%) and Honda Motor (-5.6%). The Nikkei and Topix indexes lost 3.24% and 2.36%, respectively, for the week, marking their second consecutive weekly decline.

The Nikkei 225 Index dropped -763 points or 1.39 percent on Thursday to close at 54262 points. Losses were led by Takara (-7.39%), Denki Kagaku Kogyo (-5.67%) and Japan Exchange Group (-5.50%).