TOKYO, July 12 (Reuters) - The Nikkei share average

plunged 2% on Friday, as tech stocks tracked a selloff in Wall

Street peers and the threat of currency intervention spurred

profit-taking into Japan's long weekend.

The Nikkei was down 2% as of 0155 GMT, just over 30

minutes ahead of the midday recess.

Chip-making equipment giant Tokyo Electron ( TOELF ) was the

biggest points drag on the index, sliding 5.65%. Smaller peer

Disco was the biggest decliner, down 7.25%.

That followed a 3.47% slide for the Philadelphia SE

Semiconductor Index overnight.

Japan's broader, less tech-heavy Topix declined

0.93% on Friday.

Despite the selloff, the Nikkei remains up about 1.15% this

week, after surging to a record high of 42,426.77 on Thursday.

"A natural retreat following that strong three-day rally is

the biggest factor behind today's move, I think," Nomura

Securities equities strategist Kazuo Kamitani said.

The stronger yen due to an overnight surge that many

analysts, including Kamitani, attributed to likely Japanese

currency intervention "was not really having an effect" on stock

prices, he said.

At the same time, "it's natural to think there could be

another round of intervention during the long weekend," spurring

traders to square positions, Kamitani added.

Japanese financial markets are closed on Monday for a public

holiday.

Meanwhile, a decline in domestic bond yields, precipitated

by a steep drop in U.S. Treasury yields, weighed on banks and

other financials stocks.

Insurers were the worst performers among the

Tokyo Stock Exchange's 33 industry groups, down 3.84%, followed

by electric machinery, off 2.35%, and banking

, falling 1.85%.

Other decliners were AI-focused startup investor SoftBank

Group ( SFTBF ), down 3.69%, after announcing the acquisition of

chipmaker Graphcore, and Uniqlo store operator Fast Retailing ( FRCOF )

, which dropped 3.78% after releasing earnings.

7&i Holdings, the operator of 7-Eleven stores in

Japan, lost 6.37% after disclosing financial results.