TOKYO: Tokyo stocks fell 1.65 percent on Monday morning, continuing the instability in see-sawing world stocks amid worries over the eurozone debt crisis and a slowdown in the global economy.
The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange stopped for lunch down 140.90 points at 8,419.36.
The benchmark index was briefly down more than two percent to hit the worst intraday low since March 15, just days after the 9.0 earthquake and tsunami hit Japan.
The broader Topix index of all first-section issues dropped 13.53 points or 1.82 percent to 731.01.
Market players were concerned about a slowdown in the global economy and the yen's continued strength, brokers said.
"We are not seeing any catalyst for a rebound. The level of risk aversion has gone up another notch," Yutaka Yoshii, general manager at Mito Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.
Masayoshi Yano, a senior market analyst at Meiwa Securities, said: "The biggest problem is that neither the US nor Europe have many policy options left."
He added that while the sovereign debt issue in Greece would remain a key market focus, selling may accelerate if US economic figures due this week are sluggish.
Economists see it unlikely that the US central bank will move for another round of monetary easing now because of inflation fears, while it is likely to take time for the knotty problems of Europe's sovereign debts to be untangled.
The euro fell to $1.3424 in Tokyo morning trade from $1.3503 and 103.31 yen in New York late Friday.
Against the Japanese currency the euro traded 102.57 yen, close to its 10-year low of 102.22 touched last week.
The dollar fetched 76.44 yen, marginally down from 76.50.
Tokyo was closed for a national holiday on Friday, when many other markets halted their slides following a G20 pledge to tackle eurozone debt and amid rumours that the European Central Bank could provide troubled banks more support.
On Monday, trading houses tumbled on concerns about a global slowdown.
Mitsubishi Corp. dived 7.35 percent to 1,575 yen and Itochu was down 6.09 percent to 755.
KDDI, Japan's second largest mobile carrier, plunged 4.96 percent to 593,000 on concerns that a reported plan to sell the highly-anticipated iPhone 5 may lead to a lower fee structure for smartphones amid fierce competition.
News reports last week said KDDI had secured the rights to sell the iPhone 5 in a blow to its rival Softbank, which has been Apple's only carrier in Japan. KDDI did not confirm the reports on Monday as it unveiled new cellphone models.
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