Tokyo - Tokyo stocks closed flat Monday as investors booked profits after the Nikkei index hit a near six-year high last week.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index inched down 0.04 percent, or 6.80 points, to 15,655.07, while the Topix index of all first-section shares edged up 0.02 percent, or 0.28 points, to 1,258.94.
Trading was light after the US Thanksgiving holiday while Black Friday sales, signalling the start of the holiday shopping season, came in about 2.7 percent lower from a year earlier.
US stocks ended mostly lower on Friday after a holiday-shortened session, with the Dow slipping 0.07 percent.
In forex trade on Monday, the dollar bought 102.39 yen, slightly down from 102.42 yen on Friday in New York.
The stable dollar helped keep the market treading water, dealers said.
Investors largely shrugged off an upbeat survey by the leading Nikkei business daily that showed capital spending among Japanese firms was on track for its biggest annual gain in over five years.
Separate data from the finance ministry showed capital spending was up 1.5 percent on-year in the July-September quarter, although the pace was slower than previous quarters.
“Thus far the dollar is staying up, which is a plus for the market,” Chibagin Asset Management general manager Yoshihiro Okumura told Dow Jones Newswires.
“Unfortunately, the data we're seeing... are not offering enough of a positive surprise to give stocks much of a further boost.”
The Nikkei leapt 1.80 percent Thursday to 15,727.12, its highest close since mid-December 2007.
A further decline in the yen in recent months, which helps Japanese exporters like Toyota and Sony, has pushed the stock market upward as many firms booked strong third-quarter profits.
A weak yen is good for Japanese exporters as it makes them more competitive abroad and inflates repatriated overseas profits.
In Tokyo share trading, major exporters were mixed with Nissan down 0.32 percent to 933 yen and Toyota declining 0.15 percent to 6,370 yen, while Sony rose 1.66 percent to 1,898 yen and Sharp jumped 4.17 percent to 349 yen. - Sapa-AFP