Japanese shares claw back losses after rollercoaster session

The Nikkei swung between gains and losses in a rollercoaster trading day which saw the index shed more than 7%, before rising 0.89% to 14,612 on Friday. Thursday's moves were driven by fears over weak Chinese manufacturing data, and concerns the US Federal Reserve may cut stimulus measures. Despite the recent falls, the Nikkei is still up 40% year-to-date as investors give their backing to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's expansionary policies. Meanwhile the Topix rose 0.7% after a 6.9% drop yesterday, the largest decline since the disastrous earthquake and tsunami which struck Japan in...