Tokyo stocks decline in morning trading
The Associated Press
TOKYO (June 11, 11:25 p.m. CDT) - Tokyo stocks dropped Tuesday morning led by technology issues, following a retreat on Wall Street. The yen was lower against the U.S. dollar.
The benchmark 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average shed 182.77 points, or 1.38 percent, to 13,043.71 at the end of morning trading. On Monday, the average closed down 203.74 points, or 1.54 percent.
The dollar bought 121.83 yen in late morning trading, up 0.37 yen from late Monday in Tokyo and also above its late New York level of 120.69 yen.
On the stock market, the Nikkei started lower on selling of technology issues after U.S. stocks finished lower on Wall Street amid uneasiness about depressed earnings and a weak U.S. economy.
The Nikkei's slide was exacerbated by a decline in banking stocks amid the impending disposal of banks' bad debts - leftover from the burst of Japan's asset-inflation of the late 1980s.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 54.91 to 10,922.09 at Monday's close. The Nasdaq composite index ended at 2,170.78, down 44.32.
The broader Tokyo Stock Price Index of all issues listed on the first section was down 23.20 points, or 1.77 percent, to 1,286.55 Tuesday morning. The TOPIX finished down 8.34 points, or 0.64 percent, the day before.
In currency dealings, the dollar held steady against the yen following Japan's release on Monday of weaker-than-expected gross domestic product data for the January-March quarter.
In other currencies, the euro was traded at 102.68 yen, down from 103.05 yen late Monday in Tokyo.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Japanese government bond fell to 1.2100 percent from Monday's finish of 1.2200 percent. Its price rose 0.09 point to 100.80. |