Japan's Nikkei Index falls two percent

Source: Exec Digital USA

Date :08/11/2007 04:47:02

Japanese stocks fell sharply Thursday after Wall Street shares plunged overnight on renewed worries about the extent of the credit crisis.

The Nikkei 225 index fell 325.11 points, or 2.02 percent, to close at 15,771.57 points on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. At one point, it fell as much as 2.9 percent. It was the market's fifth straight decline.

"There has been renewed concern about the U.S. subprime loan problem amid reports that losses at U.S. and European financial institutions are expanding, which increases uncertainty," said Koji Takeuchi, senior economist at Mizuho Research Institute.

Some investors are becoming worried that global markets could repeat their plunge in August, when rising defaults in the U.S. subprime mortgage market first came to the attention of the broader market.

"What happened in August could happen (again)," said Takeuchi.

Investors in Japan dumped shares after the Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 360.92, or 2.64 percent, to 13,300.02 Wednesday. It was the third time in a month the index has dropped by more than 350 points as investors reacted to soaring high oil prices and a record loss from General Motors Corp. on an accounting adjustment.

Anxiety over the fallout from the credit crisis hit Japanese real estate and financial shares. Mitsubishi Estate fell 5 percent to 3,030 yen and Mizuho Financial Group was down 3.4 percent to 563,000.

A steadily strengthening yen hurt exporters like Toyota Motor Corp., which fell 4.2 percent to 6,170 yen despite its strong six-month earnings announced Wednesday. Sony Corp. shed 2.4 percent to 5,390 yen.

The dollar was trading at 112.77 yen at 2:50 p.m. (0550 GMT) Thursday, down from 112.88 yen late Wednesday in New York. The euro fell to US$1.4638 from US$1.4730.

Kirin Holdings, meanwhile, slid 2.2 percent to 1,697 yen, despite the brewer's announcement earlier in the day it will acquire 100 percent of Australian dairy maker National Foods from San Miguel of the Philippines.

Japan's broader Topix index of all the Tokyo Stock Exchange's First Section issues fell 39.75 points, or 2.55 percent, to 1,516.94.

November 8, 2007