TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei index fell to a five-month low on Wednesday, dragged down by Sony Group and Toyota Motor, tracking Wall Street’s weak finish overnight.
The Nikkei share average fell 2.8% to 27,467.23, its lowest since Aug. 20, while the broader Topix lost 2.97% to 1,919.72.
Wall Street’s main indexes fell sharply overnight, as weak results from Goldman Sachs weighed on financial stocks and technology shares continued their sell-off as U.S. Treasury yields rose to milestones.
“Investors sold Japanese stocks as they were worried the U.S. market would fall because the Federal Reserve will try to raise rates despite some negative economic data,” said Shigetoshi Kamada, general manager at the research department of Tachibana Securities.
Factory activity in New York state slumped in January amid a surge in COVID-19 infections.
Sony Group tanked 12.79% and was the worst performer on the Nikkei after gaming rival Microsoft said it will buy developer Activision Blizzard.
Toyota Motor fell 4.97% after the automaker said it expects to miss its annual 9 million vehicle production target as it tackles chip shortages.
Toyota’s affiliate Denso was down 5.17%.
Chip-related firms Tokyo Electron and Advantest fell 6.06% and 5.29%, respectively.
Videogame publishers shined earlier in the session, with Konami Holdings rising 1.72%, however Nintendo and Bandai Namco Holdings snapped early gains to fall 0.22% and 0.32%, respectively.
There were 12 advancers on the Nikkei index against 211 decliners. The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s main board was 1.51 billion, compared with the average of 1.08 billion in the past 30 days.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.