Japanese shares end slightly lower

Japanese shares erased early modest gains and ended slightly lower on its final trading day of the year on Friday, but the index still gained nearly 20 per cent in 2017.

The Nikkei ended the day down 0.08 per cent at 22,764.94 points, while the broader Topix was also down 0.08 per cent at 1,817.56, reports Reuters.

Advancers outnumbered decliners 332 to 266, with 64 issues ending unchanged.

The stronger global economy, as well as domestic political stability and the Bank of Japan’s ultra-easy monetary policy helped lift Japanese corporate earnings in 2017, which in turn helped push the Nikkei up 19.1 per cent and the Topix up 19.7 per cent.

For the week, the Nikkei edged down 0.6 per cent as investors took profits ahead of year-end. But it was up 0.2 per cent for December.

On Friday, the banking sub-index was 0.7 per cent higher, recouping some of its 1.4 per cent fall in the previous session. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group gained 1.2 per cent.

SoftBank Group Corp gave up earlier gains and finished 0.1 per cent lower after news on Thursday that a SoftBank-led consortium will buy a large number of shares of Uber Technologies Inc in a deal that values the ride-services firm at $48 billion.

Asahi Glass Co shares rose 2.0 per cent after the Nikkei business daily reported that the company is expected to post an operating profit of around 125 billion yen for its fiscal year through Dec. 31.