At closing bell, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average fell 9.83 points, or 0.03%, to 28,948.73. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange declined 2.71 points, or 0.14%, to 1,954.02.

Trading volume turnover in the 1st section increased to 1,221 million shares from 1,028 million shares in previous session. Trading value turnover increased to 2,908.25 billion yen from 2,404.21 billion yen in previous session.

Total 22 sectors of 33 sectors sub-indexes on the Tokyo exchange ended lower, with Banks, Real Estate, Machinery, Nonferrous Metals, Land Transportation, Insurance, and Mining sectors being notable losers, while Marine Transportation, Pharmaceutical, Electric Power & Gas, Information & Communication, and Oil & Coal Products issues were notable gainers.

Shares of technology and entertainment giant Sony attracted buying on reports that Taiwan's TSMC, the world's leading chip foundry, has started considering building its first semiconductor plant in Japan in the southwestern prefecture of Kumamoto.

Electronics firm Toshiba saw a modest fall after a team of outside lawyers on Thursday released a report saying that the company's annual general meeting of shareholders in July last year was not fairly managed.

CURRENCY NEWS: The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 89.993 after swinging around the 90 level for much of this week. The Japanese yen traded at 109.43 per dollar, stronger than levels above 109.6 seen against the greenback yesterday.

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