Japan's Nikkei index gave up early gains to close near stable, Thursday, as investors remained wary of the impact of the index's recent strong gains.
Stock movements
The Nikkei index fell by 0.03 percent, closing at 35,466.17 points, after rising by about 0.7 percent earlier in the session.
The broader Topix index fell 0.17 percent to 2,492.09 points.
Shotaro Yasuda, a market analyst at the Tokai Tokyo Research Institute, said: Investors are cautious due to the strong gains recorded by the index recently.
Since the beginning of the year, the Nikkei has risen by eight percent, reaching its highest level since February 1990.
Yasuda explained: The momentum witnessed by the Nikkei index was supported by the weakness of the yen. But investors are also wary that the yen's decline will not continue for a long time, which prompted them to sell shares.
The decline in the shares of Fanuc, a robot maker with a presence in China, by 2.63 percent, put the greatest pressure on the Nikkei.
Yasuda explained that the decline in Fanuc shares reflects investors' concerns about the prospects for the Chinese economy.
SoftBank Group shares fell by 0.74 percent, and Nixon Video Games shares fell by 5.53 percent.
As the yen continued to weaken against the dollar, Toyota Motor shares rose 2.63 percent, providing the greatest support to the Topix index.
The automotive sector index rose 1.97 percent, becoming the best performing among the 33 sub-sectors on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The tire manufacturing sector rose 1.64 percent, with Bridgestone shares rising 1.68 percent and Toyo Tire shares rising 4.56 percent.
On Thursday, the dollar moved near the highest level in a month against a basket of currencies after strong retail sales data in the United States reinforced expectations that the US Federal Reserve will not rush to lower interest rates.
The decline in the yen supports the position of stocks of exporting companies because it increases the value of their profits abroad in yen when the companies bring them back to Japan.
