Nikkei falls on U.S. woes, jobs data
Japan unemployment rate soars to record 5.3%
By Mariko Ando, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 8:00 PM ET Oct 29, 2001
TOKYO (CBS.MW) - Tokyo stocks opened sharply lower Tuesday on bearish economic news at home and steep drops in U.S. indexes overnight.
The Nikkei Average fell for a third straight day, losing another 127.75 points, or 1.2 percent, to 10,484.56. The broader TOPIX lost 0.8 percent to 1,073.64.
The global economic slowdown and sluggish cooperate investment pushed Japan's unemployment rate to a record high of 5.3 percent in September, up from 5.0 percent in August, the government announced before the market opened.
Japanese wage-earning households' spending in September fell 1.3 percent from a year earlier for the sixth straight month of drop, according to another report. The data highlight concerns that spending remains tight amid unease about the stability of the Japanese economy.
Meanwhile, investors are reluctant to trade actively as they brace for another big day of corporate earnings results. Companies scheduled to report Tuesday include Mitsubishi Electric (MIELY) (6503), Hitachi (HIT) (6501), Matsushita Electric Industrial (MC) (6752) and Honda Motor (HMC).
The firmness of the yen also kept investors away from these exporters.
The dollar fetched at 121.90 yen in early morning trade in Tokyo, compared to 121.87 yen quoted late Monday in New York, where it fell as low as to the upper half of the 121-yen level in early trading.
In New York, the Dow tumbled 2.9 percent while the Nasdaq dropped 3.9 percent.
In Seoul Tuesday morning, the benchmark Kospi dropped 1.8 percent to 538.29 shortly after the open. Australia's All Ordinaries Index was down 0.3 percent at 3,179.20 in early morning trade.
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