Japan's Nikkei tracks Wall Street decline, SoftBank Group tanks nearly 9%

By Junko Fujita

TOKYO, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average fell on Friday, weighed down by overnight losses on Wall Street, with SoftBank Group leading the decline, down nearly 9%.

The Nikkei .N225 fell 1.21% to 56,941.97, but it rose 5% for the week in its second consecutive weekly gain.

The broader Topix .TOPX slipped 1.63% to 3,818.85 and rose 3.2% for the week.

Wall Street indexes fell sharply on Thursday, with the technology-heavy Nasdaq slumping 2%, as investors intensified their selloff of tech shares and fled transport stocks amid worries about artificial intelligence disruption. .N

SoftBank Group 9984.T slipped 8.86% to become the biggest drag on the Nikkei, even as the technology investor booked a fourth consecutive quarterly profit on Thursday, helped by the rising valuation of its OpenAI investment.

Their shares shaved 334 points off the Nikkei, which lost 698 points.

"There was little positive surprise from the results, so SoftBank shares fell along with the market move," said Shigetoshi Kamada, an advisor at the research department at Tachibana Securities.

On the other hand, chip-related heavyweights rose, with Advantest 6857.T and Tokyo Electron 8035.T rising 1.19% and 1.67%, respectively.

Nissan Motor 7201.T jumped 8.76% after the struggling automaker sharply trimmed its outlook for a full-year loss and reported a surprise profit in the third quarter.

"All the bad news was out from the automaker, and there was a sign for a turnaround," Kamada said, adding that investors bought Nissan shares on Friday to cover their short positions.

Inpex 1605.T slumped 13.13% after the nation's biggest oil and gas producer flagged a 16% decline in its annual net profit for the year to December.

Of more than 1,600 stocks trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's prime market, 81% fell, 16% rose, and 1% traded flat.