Japan Markets Open Lower; Nikkei Down Around 1%

Japanese stocks were trading lower on Friday, ahead of U.S. jobs report later in the day. The Nikkei 225 dropped 0.99 percent, or 183.6 points to 18,329.50, and the TOPIX fell 0.77 percent, or 11.4 points to 1,471.79.

iShares MSCI Japan ETF EWJ shares fell 0.84 percent to close at $49.47, while iShares MSCI Pacific ex-Japan Idx (ETF) EPP gained 0.51 percent to close at $41.26 on Thursday.

The USD/JPY pair is trading at 113.90 on Friday, down 0.18 percent on the day.

West Texas Intermediate for January delivery fell 0.94 percent to trade at $50.58 per barrel on the NYMEX, while Brent for January settlement fell 1.09 percent to $53.35 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange.

U.S. markets closed mostly lower on Thursday, with the Dow gaining 0.36 percent to 19,191.93, and the NASDAQ dropping 1.36 percent to 5,251.11.

Top market movers among the Japanese market are as follows:

• Shares of Japan Power Fastening Co Ltd (5950) climbed around 43 percent to 165.0 JPY.
• Watt Mann Co Ltd (9927) shares rose around 25 percent to 147.0 JPY.
• Yasunaga Corp (7271) shares increased over 19 percent to 3,100.0 JPY.

• Phil Company Inc (3267) declined over 12 percent to 3,200.0 JPY.
• Kozosushi Co Ltd (9973) shares dropped around 11 percent to 102.0 JPY.
• Tri Chemical Laboratories Inc (4369) shares fell 9 percent to 1,977.0 JPY.