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Investors eye US jobs

Tokyo - US jobs and Japanese growth data will provide the trading cues for Tokyo investors next week, with construction and real-estate firms dictated by Tokyo's fate in its bid to host the 2020 Olympics, dealers said.

In the week to September 6, the benchmark Nikkei index rose 3.52%, or 471.95 points, to 13 860.81 while the Topix index of all first-section shares advanced 3.77%, or 41.77 points, to 1 147.34.

But on Friday, the market closed down 1.45%, with construction firms turning down on speculation that Japan would lose its bid to host the Games.

Adding to selling pressure was a fall in the value of the dollar from above ¥100 Thursday to ¥99.58 Friday.

August payroll data is due later Friday and economists expect another positive outcome, adding to signs the world's largest economy is picking up pace.

With a Federal Reserve policy meeting on September 17-18, dealers are looking for more evidence that the central bank is ready to pull back on its monetary easing plan, which has been credited with propping up global equity markets.

When unveiling the programme in September last year the Fed said it would begin to take its foot off the pedal when unemployment falls and the economy shows it can stand on its own.

However, Hiroaki Hiwata, strategist at Toyo Securities said he did not expect much movement in stocks if figures were in line with expectations. "The Fed's tapering of its easing is more or less factored in by now," Hiwata said.

On Monday the government will release gross domestic product growth figures for the April-June quarter, with expectations high following a string of upbeat data that point to a revival in world's number three economy.

Saturday's decision on the 2020 Olympics host - out of Tokyo, Istanbul and Madrid - would also have a bearing on next week's trade, Tachibana Securities market advisor Kenichi Hirano said.

"A great deal of buying had taken place based on expectations for a Tokyo win, but this optimism is apparently fading," he added.

"And so the air is now coming out of sectors seen benefiting from the infrastructure spending that would have ensued, such as the construction and real estate sectors," Hirano added.

Reports that Tokyo's bid had failed weighed on the Nikkei on Friday. General contractor Kajima fell 2.16% to ¥361 and engineering and construction firm Taisei Corp. slipped 4.00% to ¥407 while property giant Mitsubishi Estate lost 2.46% to ¥2 699.

Investors also remained nervous about a possible US-led strike on Syria as world leaders failed to bridge rifts over the global response to Syria's purported use of chemical weapons as they discussed the issue at the G20 summit in Russia.

In other trading, Docomo rose 0.56% to ¥160 500 on reports that Japan's largest mobile carrier would soon start selling Apple's iPhone, making it the last of the country's three biggest providers to stock the smartphone.


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