Friday, April 6, 2012

Nikkei down for 4th day, marks worst week in 8 months

Japan's Nikkei average fell in thin volume today ahead of a key US jobs report and marked its worst weekly performance in eight months on fading hopes of further US stimulus and fresh concerns over the euro zone.

The benchmark Nikkei dropped 0.8 percent to 9,688.45, falling for a fourth consecutive session. The index was off 3.9 percent on the week, its worst weekly performance since the week of Aug. 1-5 when it shed 5.4 percent.

Despite this week's sharp losses, the Nikkei is still up 14.6 percent this year, buoyed by a run of strong US economic data and liquidity boosting programmes by central banks.

The broader Topix index fell 0.8 percent to 825.71. Slightly more than 1.6 billion shares changed hands on the main board, its lowest full-day trading volume since mid-January.