TOKYO, Dec 10 ― Tokyo stocks ended lower today after Wall Street snapped a three-day rally and investors awaited a key US inflation report due later in the day.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 1.00 per cent or 287.70 points to 28,437.77, for a weekly gain of 1.46 per cent.

The broader Topix index slipped 0.77 per cent or 15.31 points to 1,975.48 for a weekly gain of 0.90 per cent.

The dollar stood at ¥113.55 (RM4.21) in Asian trade, a firming from ¥113.44 in New York late yesterday.

The Nikkei index spent the entire session in the negative territory, following overnight falls of high-tech shares on Wall Street.

Many investors sat on their hands ahead of the releases of key US inflation data, driving the market to head south, Okasan Online Securities said in a note.

Soft performance of other Asian markets also pushed Tokyo investors to sell, it added.

“Investors want to see how the market will react to the US CPI data to be released later in the day,” Okasan said.

Shortly before the opening bell, the Bank of Japan announced that the country's wholesale prices jumped 9.0 per cent in November, the sharpest percentage increase in four decades.

Rising energy prices as well as the lower yen, which inflates the cost of imports such as raw materials, contributed to the increase.

“Concerns spread that this may hit corporate profitability,” pushing investors to dump shares, SMBC Nikko Securities said.

Players also refrained from making major moves ahead of a policy meeting next week of the US Federal Reserve, with a focus on the speed of tapering and when it might conduct its first rate hike, analysts said.

Among major shares, SoftBank Group fell 0.59 per cent to ¥5,518.

Sony Group gave up early gains and fell 1.42 per cent to ¥13,870.

Chipmaker Murata Manufacturing added 0.49 per cent to 8,770. Advantest, a major producer of testing kits for semiconductors, fell 1.75 per cent to ¥10,130.

Japan Airlines fell 2.13 per cent to ¥2,163, while rival ANA Holdings slipped 0.81 per cent to ¥2,378.

Toyota edged down 0.22 per cent to ¥2,052.

Hitachi added 2.17 per cent to ¥6,540 after an announcement the Japanese engineering firm and France's Alstom will build 54 trains for Britain's new high-speed rail lines, in a deal worth almost £2 billion. ― AFP