This May 7, 2020 file photo shows the Tokyo Stock Exchange. (Mainichi)

       TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Tokyo stocks ended lower Friday for the second straight day, weighed down by weak technology issues, while investors took a wait-and-see approach ahead of key events in the United States.

       The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended down 287.7 points, or 1.00 percent, from Thursday at 28,437.77. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange finished 15.31 points, or 0.77 percent, lower at 1,975.48.

       Decliners were led by precision instruments, service and rubber product issues.

       The dollar remained in the mid-113 yen range in Tokyo, with investors refraining from active trading ahead of the release later Friday of U.S. consumer price index data for November, dealers said.

       At 5 p.m., the dollar fetched 113.58-59 yen compared with 113.41-51 yen in New York and 113.48-50 yen in Tokyo at 5 p.m. Thursday.

       The euro was quoted at $1.1293-1294 and 128.27-31 yen against $1.1288-1298 and 128.09-19 yen in New York and $1.1321-1322 and 128.47-51 yen in Tokyo late Thursday afternoon.

       The 10-year Japanese government bond yield rose 0.005 percentage point from Thursday's close to 0.050 percent as investors sold the debt on speculation that U.S. Treasury yields would rise due to increasing prices in the country. Bond yields move inversely to prices.

       The benchmark Nikkei index extended declines in the afternoon after opening lower and staying in negative territory in the morning, tracking overnight losses in the U.S. technology-heavy Nasdaq index.

       Seiichi Suzuki, chief equity market analyst at the Tokai Tokyo Research Institute, said market participants refrained from making bold moves as they were waiting for Friday's release of the U.S. consumer price index and a two-day policy meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve slated for next week.

       "Compared with last week when the stock market made big moves, today was very slow and investors did not trade actively ahead of the events," Suzuki said.

       He added that downgrading of the credit rating of Chinese real estate giant Evergrande Group to "restricted default" by Fitch Ratings Inc. on Thursday had little impact on Japanese stocks, even though the potential bankruptcy of the firm had caused jitters around global markets.

       Although the current development on the issue was within market expectations, its impact on the Japanese market is now expected to be small as the Chinese government is showing signs it could step in and provided relief to investors, Suzuki said.

       On the First Section, declining issues outnumbered advancers 1,607 to 481, while 95 ended unchanged.

       Among technology issues, Tokyo Electron fell 790 yen, or 1.3 percent, to 61,840 yen, while Advantest dropped 180 yen, or 1.7 percent, to 10,130 yen.

       Meanwhile, concerns over another surge of the novel coronavirus in Japan weighed on air and land transportation issues as infections have increased in other countries, including the United States.

       ANA Holdings lost 19.5 yen, or 0.8 percent, to 2,378.0 yen, and Japan Airlines fell 47 yen, or 2.1 percent, to 2,163 yen.

       Volume on the main section rose to 1,114.09 million shares from Thursday's 984.72 million shares.

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