Japanese Stocks Decline on Strong Yet

Tokyo stocks dropped over 2 percent on Friday, marking the lowest level this week as the yen gained on the U.S. dollar.

Japanese currency is being traded at 104 yen per 1 U.S. dollar, which making the strongest yen level against U.S. dollar since May 2005.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average, which declined over 100 points on Thursday, lost another 322.49 points, or 2.32 percent, to 13,603.02. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was decreased 28.82 points, or 2.13 percent, to 1,324.28.

Export-oriented companies, such as Toyota and Honda, especially declined because on the currency rate.

The trading volume of Tokyo Stock Market all first section issues reached 1.97982 billion stocks, or 2.3628 trillion yen. 247 issues increased, 1410 declined and 66 unchanged.

The U.S. dollar's depreciation below 105 yen range disappointed Japanese exporters, Daisuke Uno, market analyst at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp said. If the Japanese currency becomes stronger, companies who export lose profit, he explained.

The TSE's Second Section index declined 18.21 points, or 0.60 percent, to 2,992.78 on a volume of 51.38 million shares. On the Osaka Securities Exchange, the near-term March Nikkei 225 index futures contract was declined 360 points to 13,560.