Nikkei falls nearly 3 pct before trade halted
Wed Jan 18, 2006 12:55 AM ET
(Updates to closing)
TOKYO, Jan 18 (Reuters) - The Nikkei share average fell 2.94 percent on Wednesday before the Tokyo Stock Exchange halted trade 20 minutes earlier than usual, as a flood of orders on world's second-largest stock market taxed its computer system.
More than $300 billion in shareholder value has been wiped out of the market this week -- equal to about the gross domestic product of Sweden -- much of it from the fall-out from an investigation into Internet portal company Livedoor Co. (4753.T: Quote, Profile, Research) .
Internet firms and other companies popular with individual investors were among the hardest hit, with Softbank Corp. (9984.T: Quote, Profile, Research) ending the day down by its daily limit of 500 yen, or 13 percent.
The Nikkei posted its biggest one-day percentage fall since April of last year, declining 464.77 points to 15,341.18.
The broader TOPIX index fell 3.49 percent to 1,574.67. |
