Tokyo stocks down 0.42 percent by noon

TOKYO –Tokyo stocks lost 0.42 percent on Friday morning, dragged down by a stronger yen as investors await a Bank of Japan policy meeting ahead of a holiday-studded week in Japan.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 58.85 points at 13,867.23 by the break, while the Topix index of all first-section issues fell 0.72 percent, or 8.44 points, to 1,164.34.

Few investors expect the Bank of Japan (BoJ) to make any new policy announcements Friday after its huge stimulus program unveiled this month aimed at dragging the economy out of years of stagnation.

The dollar slipped to 98.82 yen, while the euro sat at 128.87 yen, compared with 99.29 yen and 129.16 yen in New York late Thursday.

However, attention will be on its semi-annual inflation outlook after it promised to end years of deflation that have crimped investment.

“Some players are waiting on the Bank of Japan to announce its inflation outlook in the afternoon while others are already closing up positions ahead of the Golden Week holiday” starting with a three-day weekend, said Hideyuki Ishiguro, strategist at Okasan Securities.

BoJ governor Haruhiko Kuroda has said the bank will do everything possible to hit a two-percent inflation target in two years.

Data released before the market opened showed Japan’s core consumer prices, which exclude volatile prices of fresh food, fell 0.5 percent on-year in March, highlighting the tough task ahead for the bank and the government.

“Improvement will take time, and so the numbers are not having an effect on stocks per se,” Ishiguro told Dow Jones Newswires.

Sony gained 0.61 percent to 1,637 yen after lifting its profit view for the year ended in March.

Japan Tobacco soared 4.57 percent to 3,660 yen after it announced a record profit forecast. Honda was up 0.75 percent at 4,030 yen ahead of the release of earnings figures.

In New York the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.17 percent following improved jobless claims data and a mixed bag of corporate earnings.