Tokyo stocks closed mixed Friday, with investors taking profits from heavyweight technology shares, while bargain hunting in other sectors helped offset some of the losses.
The benchmark 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended down 76.55 points, or 0.12 percent, from Thursday at 65,606.71.
The broader Topix index, meanwhile, finished 19.08 points, or 0.47 percent, higher at 4,074.93.
The Nikkei index fell in the morning session, as investors lacked fresh market catalysts after earnings announcements from major companies largely concluded. Sentiment was also weighed down by a rise in West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures above 75 U.S. dollars per barrel.
Meanwhile, investors shifted funds from technology stocks into other sectors, helping support the broader market, analysts said.
Stocks were lifted in the afternoon, with buybacks in artificial intelligence- and semiconductor-related shares gaining momentum after Fujikura Ltd., a major supplier of cables for AI data centers, raised its forecast for the current fiscal year in its latest earnings results released during the session.
Tokyo stocks end mixed
Tokyo stocks end mixed
Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) announced on Tuesday that the country possesses the technological infrastructure to make missiles with significantly longer ranges.
IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebbi made the announcement in an interview with the official news agency IRNA, stressing that a political decision needs to be made within the country regarding the production of such missiles.
Mohebbi noted that in any confrontation, Iran will unveil new weapons with new ranges, precision and destructive power, emphasizing that battlefield is the best place to test new weapons.
He said Iran recently tested a new missile on an aircraft carrier and a warship both belonging to the United States, adding the missile hit the aircraft carrier, which was within a range of 500 km.
Mohebbi explained that the strike did not disable the U.S. aircraft carrier, but caused damage to it, saying Iran maintains that the strike inflicted casualties, although the United States did not announce that.
Earlier this month, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Mohsen Rezaei told state-run IRIB TV that the country had carried out an important attack "within the preceding 48 hours" against a U.S. aircraft carrier as a warning to make the "enemy" know that its naval blockade is vulnerable.
IRGC says Iran has technological infrastructure to make missiles with far longer ranges
