Japan Stocks Volatile, Face Weekly Loss

Japanese blue-chips were volatile in early trading Friday, with the benchmark Nikkei Stock Average likely to post its first weekly loss in four weeks.

The Nikkei Average opened 0.4% higher, but lost grip of gains to slip fractionally to 13,216.69. The broader Topix also turned lower to lose 0.5%.

Energy shares failed to get a boost from oil futures’ rise above $87 a barrel overnight, with Inpex Corp. down 0.4% and JX Holdings Inc. off 1%. Toyota Motor Corp. fell 0.9%. But moving higher were shares of Sharp Corp. , up by 1.8%, as the company will supply Samsung Electronics Co. with energy-saving LCD panels for notebook computers, according to a report from the Nikkei business daily.

Marketwatch