Tokyo: Shares open 0.18% lower

[TOKYO] Tokyo stocks opened lower on Friday, following falls on Wall Street due to disappointing revenue reports from US media firms as investors await a swathe of Japanese corporate earnings and a Bank of Japan decision.

The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange fell 0.17 per cent, or 35.26 points, to 20,629.18 in the first minutes of trading.

More than 250 firms on the Topix index report earnings on Friday.

Investors are also awaiting a central bank monetary policy decision later in the day.

"At the moment, moves are centred around stock picking and shifting sectors," Hitoshi Asaoka, Tokyo-based senior strategist at Mizuho Trust & Banking Co, told Bloomberg News.

"Falls in the US and European markets will be a weight on Japanese stocks," he added.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.69 per cent to 17,419.75, as weak media results exacerbated worries that increased viewing on smartphones and other gadgets will hammer the cable television business.

Viacom plunged 13.4 per cent as third-quarter revenues dropped 10.6 per cent, while Fox fell 6.4 per cent after reporting that earnings for the quarter ending June 30 sank 91 per cent.

In Tokyo forex trade, the dollar fetched 123.72 yen early Friday against 124.73 yen in New York late Thursday.

The euro was changing hands at US$1.0927 and 136.30 yen from US$1.0923 and 136.25 yen.

AFP