Japanese stocks declined about 1 per cent Friday morning on overnight losses on Wall Street and the yen's rise, which hurt exporters, dpa reported. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 99.57 points, or 1.11 per cent, to trade at 8,884.21 at the end of the morning session at 11:30 am (0230 GMT). The broader-based Topix index was down 7.56 points, or 1.02 per cent, at 736.23. Major exporters fell as the yen rose against major currencies. A strong yen makes Japanese goods more expensive overseas and erodes repatriated earnings. Shares in Panasonic Corp dropped 2.73 per cent, Sony Corp declined 1.77 per sent, Canon Inc lost 1.61 per cent, Honda Motor Co shed 1.93 per cent and Toyota Motor Corp was down 1.42 per cent. Sharp Corp plunged 9.25 per cent after the company and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd of Taiwan, also known as Foxconn, on Thursday failed to reach agreement on revisions of their capital alliance. Japan's industrial production fell a seasonally adjusted 1.2 per cent in July from the previous month for the first decline in two months amid a global economic slump and the yen's appreciation, the government said Friday. The decrease, which was below a predicted 1.7-per-cent rise, according to the Nikkei business daily, followed a 0.4-per-cent increase in June. The government also said Japan's unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.3 per cent in July. Another government report said the nation's key consumer price index fell 0.3 per cent in July from a year earlier for the third-consecutive month of decline in a country that has battled deflation for years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.81 per cent Thursday amid worries about a global economic slump. On currency markets at 11:30 am in Tokyo, the dollar traded at 78.52-54 yen, down from Thursday's 5 pm quote of 78.64-65 yen. The euro was quoted at 98.26-30 yen, down from 98.69-73 yen late Thursday, and at 1.2514-2518 dollars, up from 1.2510-2513 dollars.
