Japan's Nikkei pares losses as strong earnings offset Wall St slide
By Kevin Buckland
TOKYO, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average declined on Friday, but entered the midday break well off early lows as traders digested strong corporate earnings from domestic companies.
Markets were also waiting on a Bank of Japan policy decision, which came during the lunch break, giving traders time to digest the ramifications before the restart. Policy makers kept stimulus setting unchanged, as was widely expected.
The Nikkei lost 0.35% to 27,248.20, after briefly dipping below the psychological 27,000 mark for the first time since Monday, as overnight losses on Wall Street weighed in early trade.
The broader Topix recovered to rise 0.14% to 1,908.16.
For the week, the Nikkei is up 1.33%, while the Topix is 1.39% higher. Earnings season has picked up pace since Thursday and reaches a peak next week.
"Starting with chip stocks, there have been a lot of strong earnings results from Japanese corporations," said Maki Sawada, a strategist at Nomura.
Ahead of the BOJ decision, Sawada said that keeping policy steady should have limited impact on the market.
Rather, the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy setting meeting next week is the top focus of the market right now, and should limit any big moves going into the weekend, Sawada said.
Chip equipment maker Advantest jumped 3.59%, making it the Nikkei's best performer after Toyota-owned truckmaker Hino Motors, which rallied 5.71%.
Robot-maker Fanuc was the worst performer, sliding 6.2% after cutting its earnings forecast.
Winners and losers were almost evenly split on the Nikkei, with 108 components rising and 107 lower, while 10 were flat.
Real estate and financials were the best-performing sectors, while industrials and energy led losses. (Reporting by Kevin Buckland; Editing by Savio D'Souza)
