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Tokyo Stocks Suffer Setback On Yen’s Surge

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TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Tokyo stock prices took another plunge on Monday, with investor sentiment bruised by the yen’s ascent to an 18-month high against the dollar, which fueled worries about corporate earnings.

On the Tokyo Stock Exchange, a flurry of selling sent the benchmark Nikkei average slipping below the psychologically important 16,000 line at one point for the first time in about three weeks.

The 225-issue Nikkei average closed down 518.67 points, or 3.11 percent, at 16,147.38, after a 624.44-point drop on Thursday. The Tokyo market was closed Friday for a national holiday.

In the five sessions through Monday, the Nikkei average plummeted more than 1,400 points, or some 8 percent.

“A recovery in stock prices would require fiscal stimulus measures from the government or additional monetary easing by the Bank of Japan,” an official of a major securities company said.
In the early morning, the Nikkei dropped below 16,000 for the first time since April 12 on an intraday basis, on growing concern that the yen’s rapid gains against the dollar will cut into earnings at major export-oriented companies.

“The yen has risen above the levels assumed by many Japanese exporters [for the current fiscal year to March 2017],” said Chihiro Ota, general manager for investment research and investor services at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc.

The dollar plunged below ¥107 in Tokyo trading for the first time since October 2014, after the U.S. Treasury Department said in a semiannual report Friday that it had placed Japan and four other economies on its monitoring list for foreign exchange policies, brokers said.

“It will now be difficult for Japanese authorities to carry out market intervention to curb the yen’s upsurge,” said an official at a foreign exchange margin trading service provider.

After falling below ¥106.20, the dollar stood at ¥106.40-44 at 5 p.m. Monday in Tokyo trading, down sharply from ¥108.39-40 at the same time on Thursday.
 

 

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