The Nikkei index of 225 star Japanese stocks dropped another 1.71% to 24,790.95 points, following falling nearly 3% on Monday. It had not fallen below 25,000 closing points since November 2020.
After its downfall the day before, the Tokyo Stock Exchange ended Tuesday in a sharp decline, still concerned regarding the repercussions of the war in Ukraine on the world economy, starting with the surge in oil prices.
The Nikkei index of 225 star Japanese stocks dropped another 1.71% to 24,790.95 points, following falling nearly 3% on Monday. It had not fallen below 25,000 closing points since November 2020.
The Topix index fell 1.9% to 1,759.86 points.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index also remained in the red (-0.81% around 06:15 GMT).
“The strengthening of sanctions once morest the Russian economy is fueling fears of supply disruptions and inflation of production costs, which should affect corporate results, warned Hideyuki Ishiguro, analyst at Nomura Asset Management quoted by the Bloomberg agency.
The White House said Monday that President Joe Biden had “not made a decision at this stage” on a possible embargo on Russian gas and oil, while Germany opposes any gas embargo, on which she is very dependent.
Russia for its part warned Monday once morest the “catastrophic consequences” of an embargo on its oil for the world market.
On the side of values
FAST RETAILING REMAINS IN RUSSIA: the Japanese clothing giant Fast Retailing (-2.68% to 59,080 yen) said Monday that it did not plan “for the moment” to suspend its operations in Russia, where the group has 49 Uniqlo stores.
“Dressing is a necessity of life. Russians have the same right to live as we do,” said CEO-founder Tadashi Yanai in an interview with the Nikkei business daily, while believing that “there should never be war” and that “every country should s ‘oppose it’.
On the side of oil and currencies
Oil prices remained solidly higher, with the price of a barrel of American WTI gaining 2.92% to 122.89 dollars around 06:30 GMT and that of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea taking 3.34% to 127.33 dollars .
The euro rose once morest the yen, at the rate of one euro for 125.33 yen around 06:40 GMT once morest 125.17 yen Monday at 21:00 GMT.
The European currency was worth 1.0854 dollars, like the day before.
The greenback strengthened once morest the yen, at the rate of one dollar for 115.44 yen once morest 115.32 yen on Monday.