TOKYO, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- The Nikkei stock index retreated for a fourth straight trading day Tuesday, tumbling 3.02 percent as ongoing political and currency concerns in Greece, rising prices for crude and the yen's strength combined to ensure investors remained risk averse and offloaded issues.
The Nikkei 225 dropped 525.52 points to finish at 16,883.19, marking its lowest close since December 17, while the broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange fell 39.95 points, or 2.85 percent, to close at 1,361.14.
Local traders said that market players here continued to dump issues as concerns that Greece might opt to leave the single- currency union in Europe with all eyes now on the upcoming election on Jan. 25 that might see the left-leaning Syriza party rise to power.
They added that falling oil prices were also contributing to the latest rout, which has seen major markets in the U.S. and Europe significantly lose ground recently.
Crude oil dropped below 50 U.S. dollars per barrel for the first time since the first quarter of 2009, owing to both Iraq and Russia stating they have raised their output to new record levels, meaning prices have dropped by almost half since last summer.
"Japanese stocks are following large declines in U.S. and Europe which were triggered by falling oil and Greek-related worries. We're in a risk-off mood and technical levels alone might not be enough to halt the decline," said strategist Hitoshi Asaoka from Mizuho Trust & Banking Co.
Brokers added that there would likely be no turnaround for the market ahead of the end of the week, following the release of key employment data from the U.S. on Friday, and, until then, the market here would largely mirror Wall Street's expected ongoing downturn.
"The next cue for a rally in U.S. stocks is the payrolls data on Friday. I expect shares in Tokyo to trend down until then," said Yutaka Miura, a senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities Co.
In currency markets, the U.S. dollar dropped to 119.02 yen, compared to 119.61 yen logged in New York as investors backed away from riskier assets like stocks and opted for currency havens like the yen, which drives up its value against its global counterparts.
As such, Europe and export-related issues took a battering, as they rely on a weaker yen to see overseas profits and competitiveness boosted, and Canon fell 2.5 percent to 3,690 yen, while consumer electronics giant Sony closed down 1.17 percent at 2,439 yen.
Alpine Electronics, a specialist in car audio and navigation systems, dropped 4.8 percent to 1,917 yen and game console maker Nintendo Co. lost 4.2 percent to end the day at 11,805 yen.
Among automaker issues, Mazda Motor reversed 4.5 percent to 2, 718 yen, while Toyota Motor skidded down 2.8 percent to 7,300 yen. Nissan, meanwhile, relinquished 4.4 percent to 1,000 yen, despite U.S. sales in December beating analysts' expectations.
Oil-linked shares sank on falling prices, with exploration firm Inpex retreating 5.8 percent to 1,241 yen and JX Holdings Inc. closing down 2.8 percent at 454 yen.
Other notable decliners included Yahoo Japan, which tumbled 4.8 percent to finish at 413 yen, after Jefferies downgraded its rating on the stock from "buy" to "hold" and lowered its price target to 460 yen from 600 yen.
Skymark Airlines marked one bright spot on the market, however, with the carrier climbing 1.3 percent to 395 yen, on cheaper fuel prices and continued expectations that the company will decide on third-party new share allotment at an extraordinary shareholders' meeting.
Trading volume on Tuesday rose to 2.68 billion shares on the Tokyo Exchange's First Section, up from Monday's volume of 2.04 billion shares, with declining issues outpacing advancing ones by 1,771 to 69.
|
