TOKYO, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Japanese shares fell on Friday, after a sell-off in high-flying U.S. technology stocks dragged Wall Street's main indexes to their sharpest decline in nearly three months.
The benchmark Nikkei share average .N225 declined 0.96% to 23,240.95, retreating from its highest close since Feb. 21 hit in the previous session. Declining issues outnumbered advancers by 163 to 58 on the index.
In the broader market, Topix .TOPX lost 0.73% to 1,619.33, with nearly two-thirds of the 33 sector sub-indexes on the Tokyo exchange trading in negative territory.
For the week, the Nikkei index has gained nearly 1.6% and Topix has climbed 0.9%.
By sectors, precision instruments .IPRCS.T , information and telecoms .ICOMS.T , and services .ISVCS.T were the three underperformers on the main bourse, down 1.94%, 1.60% and 1.52%, respectively.
Overnight, Wall Street's main indexes posted their biggest single-day percentage declines since June, dragged by heavy losses across the technology sector.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC lost almost 5% a day after it posted a record close, with heavyweights including Apple Inc AAPL.O , Microsoft Corp MSFT.O and Amazon Inc AMZN.O weighing the most.
The top percentage loser on the Nikkei index was semiconductor manufacturer Alps Alpine Co 6770.T with a drop of around 4%.
Also weighing on Tokyo-listed technology sector was an overnight drop in the Philadelphia chip index .SOX , which fell almost 6%.
Tokyo Electron 8035.T dipped 2.47% and SoftBank Group Corp 9984.T lost 2.66%, while Murata Manufacturing Co 6981.T was down 1.88%.
Meanwhile, Honda Motor Co 7267.T climbed 2.71% after it revealed its plans with U.S. General Motors (NYSE:GM) GM.N to team up in North America to jointly develop a range of vehicles. Motor 7203.T also firmed, up 1.07%, as its sales in China surged last month. the index of Mothers start-up market .MTHR slipped 2.87% to 1,136.89%.