TOKYO: Tokyo stocks dropped on Friday, extending losses on Wall Street following hawkish comments from the Federal Reserve about its monetary tightening plans.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 1.63 percent, or 447.80 points, to 27,105.26 while the broader Topix index fell 1.19 percent, or 22.85 points, to 1,905.15.
“Rises in US long-term yields made investors wary. Selling affected a wide range of shares”, particularly of companies with high growth potential, Okasan Online Securities said.
“Some market players bought as the Nikkei dipped below the 27,000 level, but momentum for a rebound stayed weak,” the brokerage added.
Many investors refrained from making major bets before Japan’s corporate earnings season kicks off next week, it said.
The dollar bought 127.85 yen, slipping from 128.66 yen seen earlier Friday.
During afternoon trade, Japanese broadcaster TBS reported that Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen may have discussed an intervention to address the falling yen, citing anonymous sources.
Suzuki told reporters after his talks with Yellen that the pair discussed foreign exchange and other economic indicators, but that he had not “expressed concern” over the currency’s falls.
Panasonic lost 0.82 percent to 1,155.0 and Honda gave up 1.60 percent to 3,379 yen. Nissan slipped 1.74 percent to 536.9 and Toyota lost 1.78 percent to 2,210.0.
Sony Group plunged 2.76 percent to 11,280 yen. SoftBank Group fell 3.01 percent to 5,411 yen, and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing lost 2.70 percent to 64,460 yen.
Air carrier ANA Holdings rose 0.54 percent to 2,495.0 yen. After market close, the aviation company downgraded its annual forecasts and said it expects to see a net loss of 145 billion yen, compared with an earlier estimate for a loss of 100 billion yen.
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