Tokyo falls on Wall Street

The Nikkei lost 2.88% to 28.487.87 points, its worst drop in points (-844.29) since June 21. The broad Topix index dropped 2.07% to 1,997.01 points.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange plunged Thursday, the Nikkei signing its most dizzying tumble in more than six months following the debacle the day before on Wall Street, weighed down by a new signal of firmness from the US Central Bank (Fed).

The flagship Nikkei index lost 2.88% to 28,487.87 points, its worst drop in points (-844.29) since June 21.

The Topix extended index dropped 2.07% to 1,997.01 points.

The New York Stock Exchange ended sharply lower Wednesday following the publication of the minutes of the last meeting of the Fed’s monetary policy committee showing a willingness to tackle inflation head-on by raising its prices earlier than expected. interest rate.

“If we compare the current situation to what it was on December 14-15 when the meeting (of the Fed, Editor’s note) took place, I think the impact of the Omicron variant on the US economy is taken much more seriously, ”commented Tomo Kinoshita of Invesco Asset Management.

Starting off sharply, the Nikkei index saw its losses increase further in the second half of the session, while futures contracts on US stock indices were down sharply.

Chinese markets fell to a lesser extent: the Hong Kong Hang Seng index lost 0.4% shortly before the close, Shanghai 0.2% and Shenzhen 0.1%.

On the side of values

TOSHIBA: the share of industrial and technological conglomerate Toshiba limited its losses, yielding 0.91% to 4,850 yen. The second investor of the Japanese group, opposed to its plan to split into three entities announced in November, demanded Thursday in a press release that an extraordinary general meeting be held on this issue.

Activist fund 3D Investment Partners, which owns around 7.6% of Toshiba’s shares, calls for a shareholder vote to demand that the proposed spin-off be subject to the approval of two-thirds of them, and urges Toshiba to consider other strategies.

On the currency and oil side

The yen rose once morest the dollar, at a rate of one dollar once morest 115.87 yen around 6:50 a.m. GMT once morest 116.11 yen on Wednesday at 9 p.m. GMT.

The Japanese currency was also gaining ground once morest the euro, which was worth 130.98 yen, once morest 131.37 yen the day before.

A euro was also traded for 1.1304 dollars, once morest 1.1314 dollars on Wednesday.

Oil was in the red: around 06:40 GMT the price of a barrel of US crude WTI lost 0.75% to 77.27 dollars and that of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea 0.77% to 80.18 dollars.