I Guess The Problems Are Not Technical
Tokyo's TOPIX opens below 1,000 on Wall St, yen
(Updates to open)
TOKYO, June 24 (Reuters) - Tokyo stocks sank at the opening on Monday, sending the TOPIX index below a major psychological support of 1,000 points for the first time in four months.
Blue-chip exporters such as Sony Corp (Tokyo:6758.T - News) took a beating after another tumble on Wall Street and a rise in the yen against the dollar made investors leery of buying.
The capital-weighted TOPIX index (^TOPX - News) of all first-section issues opened at 993.64, down 0.87 percent from the previous close and the lowest level since February 28.
The benchmark Nikkei average (^N225 - News) was down 109.44 points or 1.06 percent at 10,244.91.
"It's not just the weakness in U.S. stocks this time. The dollar is falling (against major currencies) at the same time, and money is flowing out of the U.S.," said Norihiro Fujito, senior strategist at Kokusai Securities.
A soft dollar eats into exporters' overseas earnings when repatriated into the Japanese currency.
Consumer electronics giant Sony slumped 1.66 percent to 5,920 yen, falling below 6,000 yen for the first time since February 18. Toyota Motor Corp (Tokyo:7203.T - News), Japan's biggest automaker, lost 1.64 percent to 3,000 yen. |
