Point Fall: Day and Points

point fall: After opening marginally lower, the Nikkei fluctuated narrowly around the previous day's closing level before firming slightly in late afternoon trading, according to The Japan Times. The Topix remained in negative territory for most of the day's trading, dragged down by sluggish performances of financial issues, market sources said. The 225-issue average gained 23.81 points, or 0.11 percent, to end at 21,711.38, after retreating 115.02 points Wednesday. ; The Topix index of all first-section issues closed down 1.14 points, or 0.07 percent, at 1,606.52, following its 11.10-point fall the previous day. The Nikkei's firmness in the afternoon is believed to have been backed by speculation about the Bank of Japan's buying of exchange-traded funds, said Chihiro Ota, general manager for investment research and investor services at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. Hiroaki Kuramochi, chief market analyst at Saxo Bank Securities Ltd., noted that players retreated to the sidelines to watch how Wall Street will respond to earnings reports to be released by major U.S. firms next week. Meanwhile, Mitsuo Shimizu, chief strategist at Aizawa Securities Co., pointed out that active trading was held in check ahead of Friday's special quotation fixing to settle April options contracts. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.