Nikkei slides, weak US retail sales trigger profit-taking
![Nikkei slides, weak US retail sales trigger profit-taking Nikkei slides, weak US retail sales trigger profit-taking](https://m.economictimes.com/thumb/height-450,width-600,imgsize-351653,msid-68006536/nikkei-slides-weak-us-retail-sales-trigger-profit-taking.jpg)
Synopsis
The Nikkei share average dropped 1.1 per cent to 20,900.63, retreating from a two-month high of 21,235.62 hit on Thursday.
"The Japanese market enjoyed a short-term rally but the upside seems limited as there are still concerns about global slowdown in the mid to long term," said Shogo Maekawa, a global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management.
Overall sentiment was hurt by a report from the U.S. Commerce Department showing retail sales in December suffered their biggest drop in more than nine years, stoking fears of an economic slowdown.
Exporters were broadly lower, after the yen rose 0.1 per cent against the dollar to 110.39.
Honda Motor Co shed 2.3 per cent, Mazda Motor declined 1.9 per cent, Panasonic Corp dropped 1.7 per cent and Nintendo Co fell 1.9 per cent.
Financial firms, which hunt for higher yields such as foreign bonds, were also pressured after U.S. Treasury yields fell on Thursday on weak U.S. retail sales.
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Dai-ichi Life Holdings tumbled 4.7 per cent, T&D Holdings dropped 3.5 per cent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group slipped 1.4 per cent.
Japan Display Inc dropped 2.7 per cent after diving as much as 9.5 per cent after the company said it expects to post its fifth straight year of net losses, with a late shift to organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screens and slowing iPhone sales costing it orders from Apple Inc, its biggest client.
The broader Topix dropped 0.8 per cent to 1,577.29. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones 1,311 to 726.