Japan’s Nikkei Plunges 3% After Wall Street Drop

AFP/APP

Tokyo: Japan’s key Nikkei index dropped more than three per cent on Wednesday, weighed down by falls on Wall Street following lackluster manufacturing data.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 was down 3.06 per cent, or 1,184.63 points, at 37,501.68 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was down 2.79 per cent, or 76.21 points, at 2,657.06.

The Japanese market is expected to start with sharp falls as U.S. stocks declined and the yen firmed against the dollar, said Brokerage Monex Senior Market Analyst Toshiyuki Kanayama . The dollar fetched 145.31 yen in early Asian trade, down modestly from 145.87 yen in New York.

Overnight, major U.S. indices spent the entire day in the red, with the Nasdaq finishing down more than 3 per cent. The tech-focused Nasdaq closed down 3.3 per cent, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.5 per cent, and the broad-based S&P 500 shed 2.1 per cent.

Among major shares in Tokyo, SoftBank Group was down 5.66 per cent at 7,956 yen, while chip-making equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron plunged 5.99 per cent to 23,640 yen.