Mr. Roboto kicks ass:
Monday September 3, 2:18 am Eastern Time
Tokyo's Nikkei ends off almost 3 pct at 17-yr low
(UPDATE: Updates to close)
TOKYO, Sep 3 (Reuters) - Tokyo stocks slid nearly three percent on Monday to a fresh 17-year low after electronics maker Hitachi Ltd stunned the market with a hefty loss warning late last week, igniting fears of a new wave of profit revisions.
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``A sense of capitulation is eating its way through the market. First Hitachi, then Nikon -- there's really no sense of when the bleeding will cease,'' said Haruki Takahashi, head of equities dealing at Tsubasa Securities.
The benchmark Nikkei average plunged 2.84 percent or 303.83 points to 10,409.68, its fifth straight day in negative turf and its lowest finish since August 1984.
The capital-weighted TOPIX index (^TOPX - news) dived 2.89 percent or 31.94 points to 1,071.73.
Hitachi Ltd ended down by its daily limit of 100 yen or 10.27 percent at 874, its lowest point since May 1999, extending Friday's 4.32 percent slide.
The most actively traded issue by volume on the first section, Hitachi said late on Friday that it would fall deep in the red to the tune of a 140 billion yen ($1.17 billion) consolidated net loss for the business year to March. It said it would cut 14,700 jobs, or four percent of its global workforce.
Analysts said the loss forecast was bigger than anticipated and that the restructuring plan lacked teeth.
Nikon Corp , one of the world's largest makers of steppers used to etch circuitry onto chips, tumbled 13.8 percent to 912 yen after the company said it would announce revised earnings estimates at 5 p.m. (0800 GMT).
The announcement is widely expected to be a downward revision.
NTT DoCoMo Inc , Tokyo's largest issue by market capitalisation, lost 5.48 percent to 1.38 million yen after Morgan Stanley cut its investment rating on the dominant mobile phone carrier and its parent to 'neutral' from 'outperform'.
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp (NTT) , the country's number one carrier, gave up 2.59 percent to 526,000 yen |
