The company is to take a 34% stake in Mitsubishi Motors, in the wake of the latter's recent scandal over fuel efficiency.

Mitsubishi Motors shares were down, though, losing more than 3% in early trade.

Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.9% to 16,502.08 points.

At the same time, shares in embattled electronics giant Sharp rose by 3.8%, despite the company reporting huge losses on Thursday.

The struggling firm announced an operating loss of 162bn yen ($1.5bn) for the fiscal year ending March 2016.

In March, Sharp accepted a takeover bid by Taiwan's Foxconn which will take effect in October.

In China, the mainland Shanghai Composite traded flat at 2,834.81, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong was down 0.3% at 19,856.35 points.

In South Korea, the benchmark Kospi index fell 0.5% to 1,968.08.

The ASX/200 in Australia was also down, 0.4% lower at 5,336.60 points.

(BBC)