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August 5th, 2013 
Peter Nolan
TOKYO stocks have closed 1.44 per cent lower, dampened by the US dollar’s fall against the yen on a weaker-than-expected reading for US jobs growth.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index on Monday lost 208.12 points to 14,258.04, while the Topix index of all first-section shares lost 0.96 per cent, or 11.43 points, to 1,184.74.
The slip came as the US dollar weakened against the yen in forex markets after a US jobs report for July, released after Tokyo markets closed on Friday, came in lower than expected.
The US dollar fetched Y98.40 in late afternoon trade, down from Y98.89 in New York on Friday afternoon and Y99.50 in Tokyo.
A stronger yen tends to weigh on shares of Japanese exporters as it makes their products less competitive abroad while reducing the value of repatriated overseas income.
Toyota slipped 1.08 per cent to Y6,360 on profit-taking, after it announced a record quarterly profit on Friday.
Other market heavyweights also dropped, with factory automation equipment-maker Fanuc down 2.06 per cent to Y15,660.
Uniqlo clothing chain operator Fast Retailing declined 2.50 per cent to Y34,700, despite reporting on Friday that domestic same-store sales for July rose 5.5 per cent from a year earlier.
Market watchers said the downside for Tokyo stocks appeared limited as expectations remained intact for an earnings recovery at Japanese companies, particularly after Toyota posted the surprisingly strong first-quarter results on Friday.
“Many Japanese earnings results have been weaker than expected, but many posted significant profit increases nonetheless,” Yutaka Shiraki, senior equity strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.
Hiromichi Tamura, chief strategist at Nomura Securities, added that “stocks may lack a clear direction, but there are no reasons for sharper falls.
“Because we’ve seen relatively weak results for the first quarter at the beginning of the season, market participants were a bit worried, but such concerns are ebbing after we saw Toyota’s results,” Tamura added.
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