TOKYO: Tokyo stocks opened 0.83 percent lower on Wednesday with renewed worries over the European debt crisis and the size of a bailout fund designed to help the bloc's most indebted nations.
The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange opened down 70.19 points at 8,407.63.
The Tokyo market opened soon after Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the group of eurozone finance ministers, said in Brussels that the eurozone will likely fall short of its goal of increasing the firepower of a debt rescue fund to one trillion euros ($1.33 trillion).
"We haven't lowered our ambitions but the conditions have changed, so it will probably not be one trillion euros but less," he told reporters after a finance ministers meeting.
"But it will still be substantial," added Luxembourg Premier Juncker.
The ministers gave the rescue fund, the 440-billion-euro European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), new weapons as part of efforts to increase its firepower but they were unable to give it a new headline figure.
The EFSF has helped Ireland and Portugal but is deemed too small to save Italy and Spain if the crisis brings these countries to their knees.
The ministers' meeting agreed to allow the fund to guarantee 20-30 percent of potential losses incurred by investors who buy bonds of governments in financial trouble.
They also decided to create co-investment funds to allow public and private investors to participate in the EFSF.
The euro traded at $1.3316 and 103.95 yen in early Asian trade, compared with $1.3317 and 103.66 yen in New York late Tuesday.
The dollar firmed to 78.05 yen from 77.87 yen.
On Tuesday, American Airlines filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, tempering the US market's upward momentum.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.28 percent, or 32.62 points, to reach 11,555.63 by the end of trade.
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