The US dollar remained in a tight range against the yen in Tokyo as holiday slowed trading generated little price action in the forex markets.
The Japanese convenience store sales declined further by 1.7 percent in January versus a decline 0.96 percent for the same period last year. The drop in sales comes amidst the overall slowdown of the Japanese economy, as consumer spending remains weak.
The Japanese yen was quoted at 105.53-57 against the US dollar, 137.77-81 versus the euro and 199.96-200.05 against the British pound at 12:30 GMT.
Tokyo stocks remained unchanged as selling in the export related issues offset the gains in the pharmaceutical sector.
The Nikkei 225 Stock Index lost 9.10 points, or 0.08 percent, to 11,651.02. The broader First Section TOPIX on the Tokyo Stock Exchange ended up 0.17 point, or 0.01 percent, to 1,166.74.
Energy, pharmaceuticals and banking issues spearheaded the gainers while pulp and paper, automakers, and real estate sectors led the declines.
The pharmaceutical sector was in play after the report that Sankyo Co. and Daiichi Pharmaceutical Co. were in final stages of merger negations set for October.
Sankyo rose 115 yen to 2,460 yen, while Daiichi Pharmaceutical gained 115 yen to 2,565 yen. Eisai was up 70 yen to 3,580 yen. Takeda Chemical Industries, Japan's largest pharmaceutical company, finished unchanged at 5,010 yen.
The banking sector was active following last week's merger announcement between Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc. and UFJ Holdings Inc.
UFJ Holdings was the most heavily traded issue by value, up 7,000 yen to 586,000 yen, followed by Mitsubishi Tokyo down 1,000 yen to 962,000 yen.
Toyota Motor lost 30 yen to 4,130 yen, and Honda Motor dropped 80 yen to 5,560 yen. Sumitomo Metal Industries was the volume leader, up 1 yen to 173 yen.
Winners outnumbered losers 818 to 634, with 152 shares remaining unchanged. Trading was light with 1,296.41 million shares changing hands.
The TSE's Second Section index gained 56.29 points, or 1.68 percent, to 3,405.46 on a volume of 90.24 million shares.
In Osaka, the near-term March Nikkei 225 index futures contract was up 10 points to 11,660.