Tokyo: Tokyo shares fell on Friday as a rebounding yen hit exporters, but Nintendo rallied again as the hugely popular Pokemon Go app launched in Japan, its home market.
Trading got off to a weak start as investors bought the yen after an interview was aired in which central bank chief Haruhiko Kuroda ruled out using so-called helicopter money in any fresh stimulus.
The strategy involves funnelling cash directly into the economy, including possibly putting cash straight into people's bank accounts, rather than the more traditional bond-buying method.
The comments to the BBC were aired on Thursday, just before the European Central Bank held off any fresh easing measures and its own boss provided limited scope for support in the future.
Soon after the Kuroda interview, the dollar plunged from levels above 107 yen to end Thursday at 105.76 yen. On Friday it bought 105.77 yen.
"The yen is strong, US shares have fallen and exporters are likely to take a breather," Juichi Wako, a senior strategist at Nomura in Tokyo, told Bloomberg News.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 0.89 percent, or 150.21 points, to 16,660.01 by the break, while the Topix index of all first-section shares dropped 0.82 percent, or 10.92 points, to 1,328.47.
Toyota fell 0.80 percent to 5,828 yen, Sony slipped 0.12 percent to 3,209 yen and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing, a market heavyweight, tumbled 2.61 percent to 32,840 yen.
But Nintendo surged 4.89 percent to 29,370 yen as investors cheered the rollout of the hugely popular Pokemon Go app in Japan, a couple of weeks after its initial launch set of a worldwide mania.
At one stage the videogame giant's shares had more than doubled from their July 5 close as markets took the app's success as a good sign for Nintendo's nascent mobile gaming strategy.
Construction machinery maker Komatsu rose 0.70 percent to 2,096 yen after it announced a deal to buy US mining equipment firm Joy Global for about $2.9 billion.