TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei share average declined more than 1% on Thursday, as technology heavyweights tracked their US peers lower after the Federal Reserve stiffened its hawkish stance with a further interest rate hike projected by the year-end.
The Nikkei had fallen 1.14% to 32,647.72 by the midday break, with chip-testing equipment maker Advantest shedding 2.34% to become the biggest drag.
Chip-making equipment maker Tokyo Electron slipped 0.8% and technology start-up investor SoftBank Group lost 2.34%.
Overnight, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite slumped after the Fed held key interest rates unchanged as widely expected, and revised economic projections higher with warnings that the battle against inflation was far from over.
“Japanese heavyweight technology stocks tracked declines in the S&P and Nasdaq, and pushed the Nikkei lower,” said Shuutarou Yasuda, a market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Institute. The broader Topix slipped 0.72% to 2,387.96, with banks limiting the decline.
The banking index rose 1.79% to become the top performer among the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s 33 industry sub-indexes.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group climbed 2.42% and 2.37%, respectively.
The utility sector advanced 1.14%, with Tokyo Electric Power Holdings jumping 4.07% to become the top gainer on the Nikkei. Steel makers rose 0.51%.
The Topix growth index, which track shares with higher growth potential, fell 1.35%, while the Topix value index for companies with slower growth but higher dividend payouts fell 0.27%.
Among the 225 components on the Nikkei, 59 shares rose, 165 fell and one traded flat.
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