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| - Tokyo stocks closed lower on Friday with investors keeping a close eye on corporate earnings reports. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.41 percent or 96.60 points at 23,410.63 in early trade, while the broader Topix index slipped 0.86 percent or 14.10 points to 1,617.69. "Even though worries over fresh waves of coronavirus infections in Europe are weighing on the market, investors took a step aside from active selling ahead of a full-blown corporate earings report season," Mizuho Securities said in a commentary. European countries have unveiled tough new measures to try to curb a surge in coronavirus cases that has prompted "great concern" from the World Health Organization. Meanwhile US presidential candidate Joe Biden's running mate Kamala Harris suspended travel after a staffer contracted the disease, while EU chief Ursula von der Leyen abruptly left a summit in Brussels for a similar reason. Uniqlo casual wear operator Fast Retailing climbed 4.27 percent to 73,430 yen after the company forecast profits growing this fiscal year slightly beyond analysts' expectations. Among other shares in Tokyo, Sony was down 1.99 percent at 7,603 yen and Toyota was down 1.24 percent at 6,829 yen. Fujifilm closed up 2.51 percent at 5,466 yen after it said it has applied to the health ministry for its flu drug Avigan to be approved as a treatment for Covid-19 in Japan. The dollar fetched 105.26 yen in Asian trade, against 105.42 yen in New York late Thusday. kh/kaf/gle
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