Japanese shares were also hit after US retail sales and inflation data Friday fell short of expectations. Data Monday also showed retail sales in China were weak, while output from the country's factories and workshops slowed more sharply than expected in April.
"US economic data wasn't good, pressuring the yen higher, and geopolitical risks are being highlighted again with North Korea's missile launch," said Mitsuo Shimizu, deputy general manager at Japan Asia Securities.
"But (Japanese) corporate earnings results should, overall, be a market supportive factor with many companies' keeping their forecasts modest," he told Bloomberg News. The dollar rose to 113.38 yen from 113.33 yen in New York but it is still well down from the levels near 114 yen seen earlier Friday in Asia. Traders move into the safe-haven yen in times of uncertainty and turmoil but the stronger currency is negative for shares of Japanese exporters as it reduces the value of repatriated profits. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index closed 0.07 percent, or 14.05 points, lower at 19,869.85, while the Topix index of all first-section issues slipped 0.04 percent, or 0.71 points, to 1,580.00.
Toyota fell 0.62 percent to 6,009 yen and Nissan shed 1.44 percent to 1,091.5 yen. Industrial conglomerate Hitachi jumped 5.97 percent to 661.9 yen after issuing a robust earnings outlook. Suzuki also soared 6.13 percent to 5,170 yen, its highest-ever close, following a strong earnings report. Toshiba ended up 3.43 percent at 261.8 yen. The rise came as the firm said it would delay reporting its annual earnings for the recently ended fiscal year and warned it will likely book a net loss of 950 billion yen, tied to huge losses at its US nuclear unit. Analysts said the jump was likely due to investors breathing a sigh of relief that Japanese authorities do not appear ready to delist Toshiba, despite repeated delays in releasing its earnings.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2017