Tokyo: Tokyo’s key Nikkei index opened down one percent on Friday, extending losses on global bourses amid lingering worries about higher interest rates and trade wars.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which plunged 3.89 percent the previous day, was down 1.06 percent, or 239.23 points, at 22,351.63 at the open, while the broader Topix index was down 0.66 percent or 11.18 points at 1,690.68.
“Markets are finding themselves in a total state of discombobulation as we mercifully head towards the weekend,” Stephen Innes, head of trading for Asia Pacific at Oanda, said in a commentary ahead of the opening bell.
“There have been multiple train wrecks over the past 24 hours, and the continuous wall of worry around US yields and US-China tension still weighs on equity sentiment,” he said.
However a slow-down in the yen’s appreciation may offer some support to Japanese shares in later trade, analysts in Tokyo said.
And around half an hour into trade, the index was down only 0.2 percent.
The dollar fetched 112.19 yen in early Asian trade, against 112.07 yen in New York 112.17 yen in Tokyo late Thursday.
In individual stocks trade, banks were among the losers, with Mitsubish UFJ Financial down 1.61 percent at 6,829 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial down 1.46 percent at 4,429 yen.
[source_without_link]AFP[/source_without_link]