Caution weighs on Tokyo stocks, TEPCO plunges

TOKYO: Shares in the utility at the centre of the world's worst atomic accident for 25 years plunged and fishery stocks fell Tuesday, as contaminated water from a nuclear plant was dumped into the sea. Gains on Wall Street on Monday were overshadowed by caution over the impact of Japan's biggest recorded earthquake, tsunami and a nuclear crisis at Tokyo Electric Power's stricken Fukushima Daiichi plant, dealers said. The Nikkei 225 fell 112.17 points, or 1.15 percent, to 9,606.72 by noon. The Topix index fell 13.09 points, or 1.52 percent, to 846.66. Investors were given a positive lead from Wall Street as the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.19 percent to finish at 12,400.03, but caution was the dominant theme.

"Concerns are rising about the medium-term economic impact from possible moves to shun Japan-made products," Yoshinori Nagano, a senior strategist at Daiwa Asset Management, told Dow Jones Newswires. Shares in Tokyo Electric Power fell as low as 376 yen intraday, below the all-time closing low of 393 on contamination fears as the operator of the stricken Fukushima Daiichi plant began to dump radioactive water into the sea. By noon Tuesday TEPCO was down 11.53 percent at 391 amid expectations of a soaring compensation bill for the utility, which has said it may need state support to help meet its obligations. More than three weeks on from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the crisis at Fukushima Daiichi remains unresolved after its reactor cooling systems were knocked out, triggering explosions, fires and releasing radiation. The plant northeast of Tokyo has emitted radioactive materials into the air, contaminating farm produce and drinking water, and seeped into the Pacific Ocean, although officials stress there is no imminent health threat. The dumping into the sea of radioactive water that has accumulated as a result of desperate reactor cooling measures cast concerns on the earnings of the fishery industry, dealers said. Nippon Suisan Kaisha was down 3.58 percent at 215 yen and Maruha Nichiro Holdings fell 2.54 percent at 115. Toyota Motor was down 2.69 percent at 3,250 yen after it said it may have to shut down some of its North American factories amid a shortage of parts. The yen was trading at 84.21 to the dollar from 84.03 yen. The Japanese unit was at 119.70 to the euro from 119.67 yen Monday.