TOKYO: Tokyo stocks skidded 0.12 percent on Thursday morning, after Wall Street closed sharply weaker and as investors looked to more earnings reports from major Japanese firms.
The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange was down 21.22 points at 17,774.51 by the break, while the Topix index of all first-section shares fell 0.41 percent, or 5.86 points, to 1,424.06.
Among the decliners was Skymark Airlines whose shares lost a quarter of their value after the struggling carrier filed for bankruptcy protection, citing potentially crippling penalties over a cancelled $2.2 billion jet order with Airbus.
The embattled airline’s shares dropped 25 percent to 237 yen ($2) — their daily loss limit — at the open, but trading sputtered as sell orders vastly outnumbered buy bids.
Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal, NEC, and Toshiba are among the companies set to report their financial results later in the day.
Tokyo’s fall into negative territory came after Wall Street finished a volatile session sharply lower as worries about the strong dollar and falling oil prices outweighed some positive earnings reports.
Oil prices falling below $45 a barrel, close to their lowest level in six years, renewed concern about slowing inflation and declining global demand. That spooked investors who are already nervous about the impact of political uncertainty in Greece on the 19-member eurozone.
As a result, all three benchmark US indices fell. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 1.13 percent, the broad-based S&P 500 slumped 1.35 percent, and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.93 percent.
The Federal Reserve, meanwhile, failed to buoy markets when it repeated its pledge to remain “patient” regarding the first US interest rate hike since 2006. Markets have been looking for confirmation that the central bank would raise rates by mid-year.
