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| - Tokyo stocks closed lower Friday ahead of a new virus state of emergency Japan is set to declare for the capital and three other parts of the country. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 0.57 percent or 167.54 points to end at 29,020.63, while the broader Topix index slipped 0.39 percent or 7.52 points to 1,914.98. "The Nikkei index dropped in the morning following losses of three US indexes" after reports that US President Joe Biden will hike a tax on capital gains for wealthy people, Okasan Online Securities said. Okasan's senior strategist Rikiya Takebe said traders were also anticipating an evening press conference by Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga where he is expected to announce the emergency restrictions. "The economic damage of the state of emergency for four prefectures is projected to be 1 to 1.5 trillion yen," Takebe said. The measures will ask businesses serving alcohol to shut or stop serving alcohol between April 25 to May 11, and also shutter major commercial facilities such as shopping malls and department stores. Japan's core consumer price index that excludes fresh food was down 0.1 percent in March year-on-year, the eighth consecutive monthly decline, the internal affairs ministry said before the opening bell. The figure, which compares with market expectations of a 0.2 percent decline, did not prompt a strong market reaction. In Tokyo trading, market heavyweight SoftBank Group lost 0.94 percent to 10,005 yen while Uniqlo casual wear operator Fast Retailing dipped 0.37 percent to 87,490 yen. Toyota dropped 1.08 percent to 8,277 yen while Honda fell 0.58 percent to 3,233 yen. Nissan climbed 0.21 percent to 551.2 yen. The dollar fetched 107.89 yen in Asian trade, against 107.94 yen in New York late Thursday. nf/kaf/jfx
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