Japanese stocks clearly decline and suffer weekly losses.

Japanese stocks recorded sharp weekly losses at the end of trading on Friday, affected by the acceleration of inflation growth in Japan's capital (Tokyo) in March, alongside increasing expectations of continued inflation rise in Japan in the coming period. In this context, official statistics released this morning showed that inflation growth in Tokyo accelerated to 2.4% in March, higher than expectations, which anticipated inflation growth to remain at the same pace as in February, which was 2.2%. Additionally, a summary of opinions from Bank of Japan members at this month's monetary policy meeting revealed that one policymaker indicated that current wage discussions are surpassing last year’s negotiations, suggesting that wages may increase at a higher rate compared to last year. This could reflect on consumer spending and thus inflation. These developments seem to have bolstered the likelihood of rising price levels in Japan in the coming period, coinciding with increasing external tensions, notably US tariffs, which resulted in a decline in the performance of Japanese stocks at the close of weekly trading. By the end of the week, Japanese stocks suffered clear losses, with the Nikkei index declining by about 1.80%, losing 679.79 points, to reach 37,120.11 points. The Topix index also closed lower by 1.67% at 2,757.25 points, marking its worst performance in 4 weeks.