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Thursday April 10, 4:46 PMJapan's Nikkei Index Drops 1.3 PercentJapanese stocks fell for a third straight session Thursday as weakness in the property and electronics sectors weighed on the market. The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index dropped 166.59 points, or 1.27 percent, to 12,945.30 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The index lost 1.05 percent the day before. Market observers said the Nikkei is set to fall further in the short term if U.S. banks' earnings disappoint next week. Stubborn worries over sizzling commodity prices are also damping enthusiasm for stocks. "There is growing concern among investors that rising material costs will hurt companies' bottom lines," said Tsuyoshi Nomaguchi, strategist at Daiwa Securities. He added that weakness in U.S. consumer spending, as suggested by a cut in UPS Inc.'s first-quarter earnings guidance, is another bad sign for market sentiment. "Investors are also watching the outcome of March (U.S.) chain store sales data later (in the day)," he said. Electronics shares were battered by a sharp appreciation in the yen. The dollar fell as low as 100.73 yen, down from 102.04 in New York late Wednesday. Fanuc fell 6.2 percent to 9,260 yen. Casio dropped 3.5 percent to 1,362 yen. Elpida Memory lost 3.8 percent to 3,500 yen. Property companies extended their losses into a third day, partly on negative sentiment triggered by Credit Suisse's rating cuts for the sector. Sumitomo Realty & Development slid 3.4 percent to 1,919 yen. Mitsui Fudosan slipped 3.6 percent to 2,170 yen. The wider Topix index fell 14.83 points, or 1.17 percent, to 1,248.07. In currencies, the dollar was trading at 101 yen midafternoon in Tokyo. The euro fell to $1.5825 from $1.5828. |
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