Japanese shares retreated to one-week lows on Thursday as doubts over an interim U.S.-China trade deal lifted the safe-haven yen, while Line Corp and Z Holdings surged on news that the Yahoo Japan operator was in merger talks with messaging app firm Line.
The Nikkei share average dropped 0.2% to 23,263.96 by the midday break, its lowest since Nov. 7, and the broader Topix retreated 0.5% to 1,691.98, also a one-week low.
Export-oriented Nissan Motor fell 2.2%, Honda Motor shed 1.4%, and Toyota Motor dropped 0.8%.
Z Holdings, which last month changed its name from Yahoo Japan, soared 15.9% after the internet firm said merger discussions were underway with Line Corp.
Shares in Line were untraded with a glut of buy orders, while SoftBank Corp, which owns almost half of Z Holdings, climbed 1.5%.
The merger talks between Z Holdings and Line also put pressure on their competitors, with Rakuten Inc diving 5.5%.
Z Holdings was the most traded stock on the main board, while SoftBank Corp was the third-most, and Rakuten was the sixth-most traded issues on the Topix.
Source: Reuters