Japanese stocks fell sharply Friday as Wall Street's overnight plunge renewed lingering concerns about the U.S. economy.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 268.55 points, or 1.97 percent, dashing its three-day gaining streak and ending the week at 13,334.76.
The biggest cause for Friday's plunge was Wall Street's hefty losses Thursday, said Mitsushige Akino, fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management.
That quickly fueled investors' lingering worries over the health of the U.S. economy, Akino said. He also said that Friday's selling was aimed at locking in profits after three days of gains.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 252.08, or 2.17 percent, Thursday, to 11,380.30. The sell-off was triggered by a steeper-than-expected decline in existing home sales that wiped away some of the market's optimism about upbeat earnings reports.
That also weakened the dollar against the yen, and investors sold exporters and financial issues.
Japan's top automaker Toyota Motor Corp. fell 3.52 percent, and Honda Motor Co. lost 2.08 percent.
After the close of trade, though, Honda reported record profit for a fiscal first quarter, saying sales growth in new markets offset the damage from a stronger yen and soaring material costs. It said it earned a better-than-expected 179.6 billion yen ($1.68 billion) in the April-June quarter, up 8.1 percent from the same period the previous year.
Financial giant Mizuho Financial Group Inc. was down 8.15 percent, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. lost 5.43 percent.
The Topix, an index of all shares in the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, fell 2.57 percent to 1,298.28.
In currency trading, the dollar bought 106.66 yen midafternoon in Tokyo, down from 107.29 yen late Thursday in New York. The euro rose to $1.5720, compared with $1.5679.
The dollar was also weaker against other Asian currencies. The greenback fell to 1.3591 against Singapore dollar, to 33.2380 against the Thai baht and to 32.78 against the Malaysian ringgit.
