Sunday September 16, 10:18 pm Eastern Time
Nikkei Plunges Ahead of Wall St. Reopen
TOKYO (Reuters) - Tokyo stocks plunged by midday on Monday after a sharp slide in
European shares battered investor sentiment, already jittery ahead of the keenly awaited
resumption of New York stock trading later in the day.
A firmer yen came as an additional blow,
weighing on major exporters such as automaker Honda Motor Co Ltd.
``Concerns are mounting over the impact (of the terror attack) on the U.S.
economy, and this has come when pessimism is spreading on economic
fundamentals in Japan. Reasons to sell are not exactly in short supply,'' said
Tatsuhiko Takura, general manager of investment research at Tokio Marine
Asset Management.
The benchmark Nikkei average ended the morning down 488.20 points or 4.88
percent at 9,520.69, after falling as low as 9,447.76, the lowest since
December 1983.
The capital-weighted TOPIX index fell 38.07 points or 3.68 percent to 995.74.
Blue-chip exporters were sharply down on the yen's firm bias and worries that the devastating attacks may slam the brakes on the
already slowing economy in the United States, Japan's largest trading partner.
Third-largest automaker Honda Motor Co Ltd plummeted 10 percent to 3,870 yen while second-biggest Nissan Motor Co Ltd lost
9.28 percent to 557 year and electronics giant Sony Corp dropped 9.17 percent to 4,160 yen.
In the banking sector, Mizuho Holdings Inc fell 5.41 percent to 490,000 yen after the world's largest bank by assets on Saturday
cut its group net forecast for the half year to September to a loss of 260 billion yen ($2.21 billion) from a 90 billion yen profit.
The loss warning followed the collapse of debt-ridden retailer Mycal Corp, which filed for court protection from creditors last
week after Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank Ltd, a member of Mizuho, said it could no longer support the retailer.
($1-117.65 Yen) |
