AlQa'dah 12, 1433, Sep 28, 2012, SPA -- Japanese shares declined Friday morning as export-linked stocks were pulled down by the yen's strength, dpa reported. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 30.43 points, or 0.34 per cent, to trade at 8,919.44 at the end of the morning session at 11:30 am (0230 GMT). The broader-based Topix index was down 3.53 points, or 0.47 per cent, at 742.06. Exporters traded broadly lower as the yen rose against the dollar. A stronger yen makes Japanese goods more expensive overseas and erodes repatriated earnings. Shares in Ricoh Co dropped 2.53 per cent, Canon Inc 1.72 per cent, Sony Corp was down 0.43 per cent, Honda Motor Co 1.79 per cent and Toyota Motor Corp fell 1.44 per cent. The government said the nation's industrial production slipped a seasonally adjusted 1.3 per cent in August from the previous month for the second consecutive month of decline amid growing concerns of a global economic slowdown. The decline, which was worse than a predicted 0.4-per-cent fall, according to the Nikkei business daily, followed a 1.0-per-cent decrease in July. Japan's key consumer price index fell 0.3 per cent in August from a year earlier for the fourth-consecutive month of decline, the government said. Meanwhile, the nation's unemployment rate edged down 0.1 percentage points to 4.2 per cent in August, the lowest in 11 months, the government said. The rate was below the 4.3 per cent predicted by economists surveyed by the Kyodo News agency. On currency markets at 11:30 am in Tokyo, the dollar traded at 77.49-58 yen, down from Thursday's 5 pm quote of 77.70-71 yen. The euro was quoted at 100.31-38 yen, up from 100.10-14 yen late Thursday, and at 1.2940-2942 dollars, up from 1.2883-2885 dollars.
