Tokyo stocks rose Friday, lifted by solid technology issues following reports of robust sales of Apple Inc.'s iPhone in China as well as favorable earnings by major convenience stores.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended up 110.70 points, or 0.47 percent, from Thursday at 23,850.57. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange finished 6.11 points, or 0.35 percent, higher at 1,735.16.

An overnight dip in the yen against the U.S. dollar helped buoy a range of issues, including those in the mining, pharmaceutical and machinery sectors.

Technology issues notched strong gains after CNBC said Thursday that iPhone sales in China soared more than 18 percent from a year earlier in December, citing calculations derived from Chinese government data, brokers said.

Shares later pared initial gains of over 160 points as investors opted to lock in profits after the Nikkei surged 530 points, or 2.3 percent, the previous day, adjusting positions ahead of the release of key U.S. jobs data for December later in the global trading day and Japan's three-day holiday through Monday.

Nonetheless, the Nikkei regained some momentum in the afternoon partly due to the release of favorable earnings by FamilyMart Co. that followed the previous day's better-than-expected report by its rival Seven & i Holdings Co., brokers said.

"The rise of stocks in technology and convenience store sectors pulled up the Nikkei, although general market sentiment was inclined to profit-taking," said Yutaka Miura, senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities Co.

On the First Section, declining issues outnumbered advancers 1,076 to 977, while 107 ended unchanged.

Japanese high-tech shares also advanced on China's announcement Thursday of Vice Premier Liu He's trip to Washington next week to seal an interim trade deal with the United States, which raised optimism about increased demand for electrical components, said Chihiro Ota, general manager of investment research at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc.

"Investors are fully assured of the partial trade deal, now that the announcement about its actual signing finally came from the Chinese side," Ota said.

Beijing had remained silent about whether the country was up for the signing even after Washington made public that the two sides had reached a partial accord.

An overnight advance of the U.S. dollar to the mid-109 yen level against the safe-haven yen, on relief that a full-blown armed conflict between Washington and Tehran had been averted, also helped boost export-related shares, the brokers said.

At 5 p.m. Friday, the U.S. currency fetched 109.56-58 yen compared with 109.47-57 yen in New York and 109.34-36 yen in Tokyo at 5 p.m. Thursday.

The euro was quoted at $1.1106-1108 and 121.68-72 yen against $1.1101-1111 and 121.56-66 yen in New York and $1.1115-1116 and 121.53-57 yen in Tokyo late Thursday afternoon.

Amid eased tensions in the Middle East, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Japanese government bond ended unchanged from the previous day's close at minus 0.005 percent.

Among technology issues, chip-making machine manufacturer Screen Holdings advanced 310 yen, or 4.1 percent, to 7,960 yen, industrial robot maker Fanuc gained 475 yen, or 2.4 percent, to 20,670 yen, while Taiyo Yuden, a ceramic electrical component supplier, rose 90 yen, or 2.6 percent, to 3,540 yen.

FamilyMart, which reported Friday its March-November operating profit rose over 32 percent from a year earlier, climbed 72 yen, or 2.8 percent, to 2,625 yen.

Seven & i Holdings advanced 149 yen, or 3.7 percent, to 4,171 yen after reporting stronger-than-expected group net operating profit for the September-November period, the brokers said. Lawson was up 180 yen, or 2.9 percent, to 6,480 yen.

But index heavyweight Fast Retailing slid 1,770 yen, or 2.8 percent, to 61,990 yen after the Uniqlo casual clothing chain operator said Thursday it had cut its full-year group net profit forecast as sales were hit by prolonged protests in Hong Kong and a boycott of Japanese goods in South Korea amid deteriorating ties.

Sony briefly reached a market capitalization of 10 trillion yen ($91.3 billion) for the first time since September 2000, reflecting its image-sensing technology used for smartphone cameras that has the largest global market share. The electronics firm ended up 39 yen, or 0.5 percent, at 7,843 yen.

Trading volume on the main section fell to 1,091.6 million shares from Thursday's 1,146.56 million shares.

==Kyodo

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