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| - Tokyo stocks closed higher on Friday after the World Health Organization declared the new coronavirus an international emergency but held off on recommending restrictions on the movement of people. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 0.99 percent, or 227.43 points, to end at 23,205.18, dropping 2.61 percent from a week earlier. The broader Topix index rose 0.58 percent, or 9.67 points, to 1,684.44. Over the week, it fell 2.66 percent. Some investors bought back shares on the belief the crisis is bottoming out as the UN health agency's director gave its "stamp of approval to China's aggressive containment effort", Stephen Innes, chief market strategist at AxiCorp, said in a note. The WHO move "eased some mushrooming fears by suggesting the number of outbreaks is relatively small", he said. Makoto Sengoku, market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Institute, said: "Sentiment was propped up as the WHO didn't go for travel or trade restrictions." "We still don't know how the virus situation will develop but at least excessive caution has eased," he told AFP. Meanwhile, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe warned citizens against non-essential travel to China and fast-tracked new rules to limit the spread of the virus. In Tokyo trading, Uniqlo chain operator Fast Retailing advanced 1.19 percent to 59,340 yen while chip-making equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron jumped 2.29 percent to 24,500 yen. Sony was up 0.66 percent to 7,718 yen. Game giant Nintendo dropped 3.54 percent to 40,770 yen after its third-quarter operating profit released late Thursday was slightly lower than market expectations. The Kyoto-based firm said on Friday there would be no fresh model of its hot-selling Switch console this year. Japan's unemployment rate in December stood at 2.2 percent, unchanged from the previous month, according to data released by the internal affairs ministry before the opening bell. The dollar fetched 109.02 yen in Asian trade, against 108.93 yen in New York late Thursday. bur-nf/sah/qan
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