Tokyo - Tokyo stocks opened lower Monday on Wall Street's falls before the weekend and a stronger yen.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average declined 176 points, or 1.35 per cent, to 12,896.87.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues was also down 18.82 points, or 1.5 per cent, to 1,235.89.

Exporters were hurt as a stronger yen affects Japanese companies' earnings overseas. Also, reports of a slowdown of US consumer spending in July raised fears of lower demand for Japanese products.

Indian equities erased all its previous losses and closed the week positively on Friday, August 29 because of decline in weekly inflationary figures and encouraging signals from US and Asian markets that supported the market despite reduction in Q1 GDP growth.

Midcap and smallcap stocks also backed the sharp run. 

The BSE Sensex ended at 14,564.53, up 516.19 points, while the broad-based NSE Nifty surged 146.00 points to end at 4,360.00.

Indian equities canceled all its previous losses and profited more than 163 points in the week ended August 29, on the back of lower inflation figures and moderate decline in India’s growth that led to the positive outlook.

The market opened the week positively but it slipped during the mid-week on global fears but the decline in inflation rate assisted stock markets to recover lost points.

The sectoral picture showed that major gainers during the week included Bankex (5.31%) followed by IT (3.37%), Realty (1.02%) and Power (0.23%).

Indian equities closed on a positive note on Friday, Aug 29 on account of decline in inflation numbers and encouraging signs from US and Asian markets, which backed up the market despite reduction in Q1 GDP growth.

Midcap and smallcap stocks also supported the sharp run.  

After opening the day at 14,279.02 with a gain of 230.68 points, the 30-share index, BSE Sensex remained strong all-through the day.

A top NSE official reported recently, “More than 300 members will be eligible to participate in currency futures trading on the National Stock Exchange of India on Friday, when the facility gets flagged off by the Union Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram.”

The NSE, which is aiming at encouraging more participation in Currency Derivatives segment, has decided that no transaction charges will be charged on the trades done in this segment on the exchange from 29th August till 30th September.

The NSE circular however informed, “Every trading member participating in currency derivatives during the above period shall be required to make a lump-sum contribution of Rs 500 towards an Investor Protection Fund.”