Yahoo Finance Tokyo stocks open down 0.27%
Tokyo stocks opened 0.27 percent lower on Friday with the dollar under selling pressure against the yen, while the market was also focused on forthcoming US payroll data.
The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange lost 41.51 points to 15,620.48 at the start.
The Nikkei index suffered its worst loss in almost two months Thursday on the back of global equity market selling, fears over the Ebola outbreak, and a sharp fall in the dollar.
"After closing lower in six out of the last eight sessions, more dollar weakness is likely to entice further selling," said Yutaka Miura, senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities.
The dollar has backed off after breaking the 110 yen barrier for the first time in more than six years on Wednesday.
The greenback was changing hands at 108.50 yen in early Friday trade, marginally up from 108.42 yen in New York Thursday afternoon but still down from 108.70 yen in Tokyo late Thursday.
A strong yen makes Japanese exports more expensive abroad and erodes profits when repatriated.
The euro bought $1.2669 and 137.39 yen against $1.2667 and 137.34 yen in US trade.
"Tonight's US payrolls data will be important; a strong labour report could push the dollar back up," Miura told Dow Jones Newswires.
Wall Street stocks Thursday finished little changed, rallying somewhat from a big mid-session drop as investors looked ahead to Friday's US jobs report for September.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.02 percent to 16,801.05, while the broad-based S&P 500, which fell as low as 1,926.03, ended essentially flat at 1,946.17, up 0.01 point.
