TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei share average fell more than 1% on Monday, extending its decline to a fourth session, as chip-related stocks tumbled after their Wall Street peers closed sharply lower at the end of last week.
The Nikkei fell 1.17% to 39,593.81 by the midday break, while the broader Topix was down 1.04% to 2,831.
“The Japanese market was a reflection of all the bad cues overseas over the weekend,” said Takehiko Masuzawa, trading head of Phillip Securities Japan. Chip-equipment maker Tokyo Electron fell 2.21% to drag the Nikkei the most.
Chip-testing equipment maker Advantest lost 3.19% and silicon-wafer maker Shin-Etsu Chemical slipped 1.71%.
US stocks extended their slump on Friday as lingering chaos related to a global technical outage caused by a software glitch added uncertainty to an already-anxious market.
Nvidia shares led a sell-off in chips, with the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index underperforming the broader market with a more than 3% drop.
Heavy industry maker IHI fell 3.71% as investors sold stocks that had rallied on higher chances of Donald Trump winning the US presidential race spurred so-called “Trump trades”.
US President Joe Biden ending his reelection campaign triggered a sell-off of those stocks as market players tried to book profits, Masuzawa said.
Biden abandoned his reelection bid on Sunday under growing pressure from his fellow Democrats and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s candidate to face Republican Donald Trump in the November election.
All but five of the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s 33 industry sub-indexes fell. Railway firms rose 1.55%, while the airline sector inched up 0.07%. Of the Nikkei’s 225 components, 46 fell and 178 fell with one trading flat.
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