Nikkei Falls On Strong Yen, Profit-Taking

TOKYO (NQN)--Tokyo stocks continued to slide Friday, as investors locked in gains in response to overnight losses on Wall Street.

The Nikkei Stock Average ended the morning session down 56.72 points, or 0.50% from Thursday's close, at 11,252.41.

The yen stopped weakening against the dollar, with the Japanese currency moving in the lower-93 range versus the greenback. This weighed on shares of Toyota Motor Corp. (7203) and other exporters.

Investors also started to unload shares of Mizuho Financial Group Inc. (8411), Nomura Holdings Inc. (8604) and other financial firms.

Midway through the morning, investors started selling off Nikkei index futures. This prompted players to unwind arbitrage positions.

The benchmark index briefly fell below 11,200 at one point.

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