Japan:Nikkei slips as relief rally sputters

[TOKYO] Japan's Nikkei share average ticked down on Friday as a relief rally driven by fading political worries in Europe fizzled, but the benchmark managed to score its largest weekly gain since early December.

The Nikkei fell 0.3 per cent to 19,196.74 , off five-week highs of 19,289.43 touched on Wednesday. But it was up 3.1 per cent on the week.

The broader Topix fell 0.3 per cent to 1,531.80, with turnover of the main board hitting 2.546 trillion yen, its highest in three weeks and about 15 per cent above the long-term average.

Nintendo, the most heavily traded shares on Friday, rose 2.1 per cent after its earnings suggested strong sales of its new Switch console.

REUTERS