Nikkei drops on profit-taking in Olympics

 

Japan's Nikkei average fell on Friday, snapping a four-day winning streak, hit by profit-taking in the real estate and construction sectors as investors awaited US jobs data later in the day and a decision on the country's Olympic bid.

 

The benchmark Nikkei fell 0.9% to 13,942.11 by mid-morning after advancing 0.1% to 14,064.82 on Thursday. It rose 5.1% over the past four trading days.

 

"Investors have quickly moved to lock in profits as Madrid was reported as a favoured candidate for the Olympic bid," said Kyoya Okazawa, head of global equities and commodity derivatives at BNP Paribas in Tokyo.

 

"Since real estate and construction shares recently gained on hopes that Tokyo will win the race to host the 2020 Summer Olympics, it's only natural that some investors want to close the game now. I won't be surprised if the Nikkei shed 2% later in the session."

 

Spanish newspaper El Mundo on Thursday published names of up to 50 International Olympic Committee members who were going to vote for them.

 

Tokyo is competing against Madrid and Istanbul in the race to host the Games, and a decision is expected on Saturday.

 

The real estate sector fell 2.3% and was the worst sectoral performer. Mitsui Fudosan Co which is a leading developer in the Tokyo Bay area and has a number of buildings containing hotels, slumped 2%.

 

Its peers Mitsubishi Estate Co Ltd and Tokyo Tatemono Co Ltd  dropped 1.5% and 2.9%, respectively.

 

Among the construction sector, Taisei Corp , which is the likely contractor for the new National Stadium, slumped 5.2%. Rivalling Kajima Corp , Obayashi Corp  and Shimizu Corp  falling between 3.2% and 3.5%.

 

NTT DOCOMO OUTPERFORMS ON IPHONE HOPES

 

Bucking overall weakness, NTT DoCoMo Inc  briefly climbed as much as 3.8% to a 3-1/2-month high after sources familiar with the matter said Japan's largest mobile carrier will begin selling Apple Inc's iPhone as early as this autumn.

 

DoCoMo has been the only major mobile carrier in Japan that does not offer the iPhone. The stock last traded 0.3% higher on the day and was the most traded stock on the main board.

 

The news weighed on shares of rivals KDDI Corp and SoftBank Corp , which already offer iPhones, as they have been chipping away at DoCoMo's market share. SoftBank lost 2.2%, while KDDI eased 0.3%.

 

The broader Topix was down 0.7% to 1,149.66. Trading was fairly light by mid-morning, with volume on the Topix at 28.6% of its full daily average for the past 90 days.

 

The benchmark Nikkei is up 34% this year, but is down 13% since its May peak.