It announced Friday that it went deep into the red for the year ended March after taking heavy costs to deal with its mountainous bad loans. One money manager said banks are vulnerable to further downswings in the economy, which is still in an unpredictable state. Mizuho Holdings, the world's largest banking group, was down 3.3 percent at 671,000 yen. It announces earnings after the close. Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group fell 3.3 percent to 1.18 million yen after rallying Thursday on a smaller than expected losses.
Select techs gain Rises in shares with strong earnings prospects underpinned the market.
Select tech shares saw buying after Nasdaq's 1.7 percent rise overnight. Electronics titan Sony Corp. ended up 0.5 percent at 10,000 yen. Toshiba Corp., the nation's number one chip maker, rose 1.1 percent. Nintendo Co. jumped 5.4 percent to 22,350 yen after its earnings came in line with expectations on Thursday. The weak results by the world's second-largest home videogame maker had been factored in.