El-- 1st HK and now Japan--- could you please tell Al to put a sock in it? Now we bite the dust for awhile,, AGAIN..
TOKYO, Oct 14, 1999 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Japanese stocks fell
Friday morning on worries over New York share prices after comments by
the head of the U.S. central bank. The dollar was lower.
Japan's benchmark 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average fell 137.39 points, or
0.77 percent, to 17,642.87 at the end of morning trading. The index
closed up 25.77 points, or 0.15 percent Thursday.
The dollar traded at 106.86 yen, down 0.41 yen from its level of 107.27
yen late Thursday in Tokyo and also below 107.35 yen late Thursday in
New York.
In a speech to bankers, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan
late Thursday warned that the decline in equity premiums that have kept
U.S. stock prices rising in recent years could be temporary.
The equity premium is the difference between the returns yielded by
stocks and the returns yielded by U.S. Treasury bonds. It effectively
reflects the reward investors demand in return for taking on various
risks.
In the speech, Greenspan waded indirectly into a debate over how long
U.S. stock prices can keep rising, although he offered no firm
conclusions of his own.
Tokyo stocks, often sensitive to developments that could affect market
sentiment in the United States, moved lower and also got little support
from a government report that slightly upgraded the assessment of
Japan's economy.
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