Nikkei slips below 9,000, Softbank surges

Japan's Nikkei share average edged below 9,000 on Friday as caution prevailed on Greece even after leaders in Athens clinched a long-delayed bailout deal, but euro zone finance ministers urged the country to commit to more reforms.

Softbank surged 3.7% and topped the turnover list after sources said Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group plans to take private its Hong Kong-listed unit Alibaba.com, in which the Japanese telecom firm has an indirect stake.

"The stock (Softbank) is receiving some uplift from the Chinese Internet rerating story," a trader at a foreign bank said.

Softbank's trading volume was more than double its average daily 90-day volume.

Shippers, which were battered last year on concerns over global growth and rising fuel prices, cruised 1% higher after transpacific container shippers recommended a general rate rise of USD 300 per 40-foot unit from March 15 and another increase in May to restore rates from loss-making levels.

A sector upgrade by JPMorgan to "overweight" from "neutral" also boosted shipping stocks.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd  rose 1.2%, while rivals Nippon Yusen KK climbed 1.3%.

The Nikkei dipped 0.6% to 8,947.17, with the 200-day moving average near 9,057 acting as resistance. The benchmark has still managed to rise 1.3% this week. The broader Topix eased 0.7% to 779.07.

"Foreign investors shed a lot of their positions last year on risk-off sentiment, so right now they're buying back Japanese equities. It's not that they're overweight at all," said Yutaka Miura, senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities. "Domestic investors would rather take profits now ahead of the March earnings season, and the 9,000 level is a good point to sell for many Japanese investors."

After the close, the Osaka Securities Exchange said that January options were settled at 9,011.16, a key target level, market participants said, for the market to test next week.

Trading volume was moderate, with 2.36 billion shares changing hands on the main board, down from 2.67 billion shares on Thursday.

Toshiba Corp added 1.5% after the U.S. nuclear regulatory agency approved plans by Southern Co to build and operate two new nuclear power reactors through the Japanese firm's U.S. unit Westinghouse.

Yamada Denki Co Ltd, a large discount home electronics retailer, soared 9% after analysts said it was maintaining a high recurring profit margin thanks to effective management of cash discounts and a loyalty point scheme, despite declines in sales in the third quarter.

Cashing In

Japan Tobacco, however, shed 4.7% after ramping up nearly 12% in the previous three sessions after the company revised up its annual guidance and dividend outlook on Monday.

Investors also locked in profit on banks after the sector rallied more than 12% this year after last year's 21% drop.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group shed between 1.6% and 2.8%. They were still hovering close to "overbought" territory, with their 14-day relative strength indexes around 70.

Japan's corporate earnings results have been disappointing so far. Out of 138 Nikkei companies that have reported, two-thirds of them failed to meet market expectations, Thomson Reuters StarMine data showed. That compares with 34% for S&P 500 companies.

The weak earnings have not deterred the rally in Japanese equities, however, boosted by a brightening outlook for the United States and an injection of 489 billion euros of three-year loans by the European Central Bank.

The Nikkei is up 5.8% so far this year after shedding 17.3% in 2011.