TOKYO: Tokyo stocks closed lower on Friday with exporters falling as the yen strengthened against the dollar on soft US data and a new report on the probe into the Trump administration’s Russia ties.

The Nikkei’s fall came as Wall Street finished mostly lower Thursday ahead of a key US jobs report, although the Dow narrowly edged to its seventh straight record close.

The dollar weakened as a survey showed growth in the American services sector slowed sharply in July, shaking confidence in Friday’s payroll data.

The Wall Street Journal also reported that special counsel Robert Mueller had convened a grand jury in Washington to investigate Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election and whether President Donald Trump’s campaign colluded with Moscow.

The probes are casting doubt over Trump’s ability to push through an agenda aimed at boosting growth.

“Uncertainty over the US economy is surfacing,” said Hideyuki Ishiguro, a senior strategist at Daiwa Securities.

“If a grand jury is set up, the odds are for the Trump administration to see more bad news, and the political uncertainty is likely to drag on,” he told Bloomberg News.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index lost 0.38 percent, or 76.93 points, to end at 19,952.33. The benchmark inched down 0.04 percent over the week.

The Topix index of all first-section shares closed down 0.15 percent, or 2.37 points, at 1,631.45 while gaining 0.63 percent over the week.

Investors will be looking to US wholesale and consumer inflation data next week as they speculate whether there will be another interest rate hike this year. The greenback was trading at 110.08 yen on Friday, slightly up from 110.02 yen in New York Thursday afternoon but still lower than 110.64 yen in Tokyo earlier in the day.

A stronger yen hurts the competitiveness of Japanese exporters and shrinks their repatriated profits.

Canon shares fell 0.56 percent to 3,853 yen while Hitachi slipped 0.64 percent to 738.8 yen.

Small car maker Suzuki soared 8.69 percent to 5,636 yen, however, after announcing a sharp rise in quarterly profits. Mazda closed 2.80 percent higher at 1,688.5 yen after reports that the Hiroshima-based automaker was close to a deal to build a $1.6 billion assembly plant in the United States with Toyota, which slipped 0.14 percent to 6,216 yen.

The two companies will reportedly hold a joint press conference late Friday.

After the market closed, Toyota announced upward revisions in full-year earnings thanks to a weaker yen and cost-cutting efforts.—AFP