TOKYO, July 16 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks closed lower on Friday for the third consecutive day, as underperformed blue chips and the rising fears of a COVID-19 resurgence in Tokyo dragged down market sentiment.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average finished 276.01 points lower, or 0.98 percent, from Thursday at 28,003.08.
The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange closed 7.42 points lower, or 0.38 percent, at 1,932.19.
Trading volume on the main section decreased to 935.58 million shares from Thursday's 971.17 million shares.
Due to an overnight fall on the U.S. Nasdaq index, a technology-heavy index, Tokyo Stocks faced selling pressure. In addition, declines in blue chips such as Fast Retailing enlarge the downward pressure further.
Masahiro Ichikawa, a chief market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Co., said, "Large-cap issues weighed heavily on the market, with Fast Retailing's earnings results proving to be contrary to investors' high expectations."
Ichikawa also said that investors were becoming cautious about the future performances of giant retailers.
Fast Retailing ended down 2.6 percent following the downward revision of its sales and operating profit outlooks for the business year through August on Thursday.
Ichikawa added that investors are also aware of the possibility of increasing COVID-19 infections since the Tokyo Olympics starting next week will increase the flow of people.
Tokyo confirmed 1,308 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, which hit the highest record since Jan. 21, exceeding 1,000 infections for the second day in a row.
At the same time, the healthy earning reports of undervalued firms including iron and steel, and nonferrous metal sectors brought a rise for those firms, supporting the downside.
Pharmaceutical, precision instrument, and mining sectors led the fall. By the close of play, decliners outnumbered increasing shares 1,058 to 1,008, while 126 ended unchanged.
Technology shares were struck by the fall of the Nasdaq index overnight. Advantest decreased 2.2 percent, Screen Holdings dropped 1.4 percent, and Tokyo Electron slipped 1.6 percent.
Pharmaceutical company Eisai ended fell 13.0 percent after reports Thursday that its Alzheimer's drug jointly developed with U.S. biotech giant Biogen Inc. was declined to use by many medical facilities in the United States. Enditem