THE JAPAN NEWS


 

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The benchmark Nikkei average plunged to its lowest close in over three months on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Friday, hurt chiefly by growing concerns over U.S. President Donald Trump’s economic agenda.

The 225-issue Nikkei average fell 232.22 points, or 1.18 percent, to 19,470.41, its lowest finish since May 2. On Thursday, the key market gauge lost 26.65 points.

The TOPIX index of all First Section issues closed down 17.46 points, or 1.08 percent, at 1,597.36, after shedding 1.18 points the previous day.
The Tokyo market met with heavy selling after Wall Street fell sharply on Thursday on rumors that U.S. National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, Trump’s top economic adviser, would resign, brokers said.

A terror attack that struck Barcelona, Spain, on Thursday also put a damper on investor sentiment in both the United States and Japan, they said.

Tokyo stocks came under selling pressure due to the yen’s strengthening against the dollar amid a risk-averse mood, an official of a bank-linked securities firm said.

Political uncertainties in the United States and the Barcelona attack “prompted selling to lock in profits,” said Hideyuki Ishiguro, senior strategist at Daiwa Securities Co.

The market “entered into a correction phase,” following the deterioration of the external environment, Ishiguro said.

While position-adjustment selling ahead of the weekend also helped push down the key market gauges, buying on dips and buybacks supported the market’s downside, the bank-affiliated securities firm official said.

Falling issues far outnumbered rising ones 1,672 to 279 in the TSE’s First Section, while 72 issues were unchanged.

Volume rose to 1,671 million shares from 1,436 million shares on Thursday.

The stronger yen battered automakers Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Subaru, camera maker Canon, electronics maker Panasonic and technology firm Kyocera.

Megabank groups Mitsubishi UFJ, Sumitomo Mitsui and Mizuho, insurers Dai-ichi Life and Sompo Holdings and brokerage firms Nomura and Daiwa met with selling after their U.S. peers fared poorly in New York trading on Thursday.