Tokyo stocks make slight gains
|London | Wall Street | Asia|
(Close): Major stocks in Japan ended virtually unchanged on Friday with other major exchanges around the world closed for Christmas.
The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo closed up 10 points, or 0.06%, at 17,818.96. The broader Topix index rose 6 points, or 0.44%, to 1,427.50.
It came after fresh data showed that industrial output dropped in November, after two months of rises.
And the core inflation rate also continued to slow in November.
It means the Japanese central bank still has a fight on its hands in order to conquer years of deflation.
In stock market trading Honda fell 1.12% to 3,620 yen after reports that it would probably postpone the January launch of a luxury sedan due to additional safety system checks.
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group was up 0.68% at 4,435.5 yen after Citigroup said it was selling its Japanese retail banking operations to the Japanese group's trust banking unit.
Later on Friday, government-owned Japan Post said it hoped to list in the second half of the next business year.