Tokyo stocks fall below 13,000 on strong yen

Tokyo stocks moved back into the red after briefly recovering to around 13,100 Thursday afternoon, with the Nikkei Stock Average falling 110.85 points, or 0.85%, to end the day at 12,904.02. The index closed the day below 13,000 for the first time since April 5. Kenichi Hirano at Tachibana Securities Co. said proprietary trading divisions of securities firms, which had been selling stock index futures in the morning, were buying back them in the afternoon in the view that the benchmark index will remain resilient. However, the yen's advance against the dollar induced selling toward the close, according to the (Nikkei.com) website. Gainers included Tokyo Electron Ltd. (8035), Eisai Co. (4523), Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. (4519) and Shiseido Co. (4911), while decliners included JGC Corp. (1963), Konami Corp. (9766), Seven & i Holdings Co. (3382) and Daikin Industries Ltd. (6367).