Tokyo stocks fall by break, Nintendo up on new console

Tokyo - Tokyo shares eased on Friday morning after three days of gains, but Nintendo jumped as the video game giant launched its newest console.

A rally in the dollar against the yen on Thursday boosted exporters and led to an initial advance but they soon reversed course as investors locked in profits.

Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 27.22 points, to 19 537.58 by the break, while the Topix index of all first-section issues was down 2.77 points, at 1 561.92.

"Local equities may pull back following recent sharp gains," said Shunichi Otsuka, general manager of research and strategy at Ichiyoshi Securities in Tokyo.

"But with the odds of a US rate hike growing, the foreign-exchange rate is likely to maintain the current ¥114-for-dollar range, which means corporate earnings will be even better for this fiscal year and also look good in the new year," Otsuka told Bloomberg News.

On Friday, the dollar was at ¥114.25, slightly weaker than ¥114.39 late in New York but still better than the sub-¥112 levels seen earlier this week.

Nintendo jumped 3.40% to ¥23 655 as its new console went on sale with gamers queuing up outside stores around the country.

Rival games console maker Sony rose 1.06% to ¥3 621 and market heavyweight Fast Retailing, operator of the Uniqlo chain, tacked on 2.46% to end the morning at ¥37 400.

Toyota slipped 0.37% to ¥6 446 and SoftBank was down 0.74% at ¥8 515.