TOKYO: Tokyo stocks fell 1.57 percent Thursday morning, hit by a stronger yen and sharp losses on Wall Street that were fuelled by weak US data.
The Nikkei 225 index at the STOCK EXCHANGE fell 309.32 points to 19,436.88 by the break, while the Topix index of all first-section issues was down 1.63 percent, or 25.96 points, at 1,566.05.
“The US economy is supposed to be doing pretty well, but it’s actually quite unclear,” said Ryuta Otsuka, a strategist at Toyo Securities.
“The drop in US stocks and the lack of clarity surrounding the US economy should weigh on Japanese shares, which have gone up very quickly recently,” he added.
On Wall Street, the Dow sank 1.62 percent, the S&P 500 slid 1.46 percent and the Nasdaq fell 2.37 percent.
