TOKYO, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Japanese shares closed lower on
Friday, after a sell-off in high-flying U.S. technology stocks
pushed Wall Street to its steepest fall in nearly three months,
although for the week, Tokyo markets ended in the green.
The benchmark Nikkei share average .N225 closed down 1.11%
at 23,205.43, away from a more than six-month closing high it
hit on Thursday. Declining issues outnumbered advancers by 161
to 54. The Topix .TOPX shed 0.90% to 1,616.60.
For the week, the Nikkei index gained nearly 1.4%, snapping
two consecutive weekly losses, and the Topix climbed 0.7%.
Precision instruments .IPRCS.T , information and telecoms
.ICOMS.T , and pharmaceuticals .IPHAM.T sectors were the
three underperformers on the main bourse.
Overnight, Wall Street's main indexes posted their biggest
single-day percentage declines since June, dragged by heavy
losses across the technology sector. .N
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC lost almost 5% a day after it
posted a record close, with heavyweights including Apple Inc
AAPL.O , Microsoft Corp MSFT.O and Amazon Inc AMZN.O
weighing the most.
Semiconductor manufacturer Alps Alpine Co 6770.T was among
the top percentage losers on the Nikkei index, with a drop of
around 4%.
An overnight drop in the Philadelphia chip index .SOX ,
down almost 6%, was another headwind for the Tokyo-lsited
technology sector.
Tokyo Electron 8035.T slid 2.73% and SoftBank Group Corp
9984.T lost 3.21%; Sony Corp 6758.T fell 1.64%.
Meanwhile, analysts said investors were also cautious ahead
of the U.S. jobs data expected later in the day.
Among other shares, Honda Motor Co 7267.T climbed 2.23%
after it revealed plans with General Motors GM.N to team up in
North America to jointly develop a range of vehicles.
Toyota Motor 7203.T also rose 0.79%, as its sales in China
surged last month. Elsewhere, the index of Mothers start-up market .MTHR
slipped 2.61% to 1,139.90.