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Japan's stocks crash, diving nearly 10%
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-08 15:34 Daisuke Uno, chief strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, said the Nikkei was likely to see further declines due to a lack of policy responses from Japanese authorities, such as additional fiscal spending steps to support the economy. He added it was also hard to expect any major initiatives from the meeting of Group of Seven finance ministers on Friday. "If there was something they could do, I think they would have already done it," Uno said. Exporters Battered "Toyota is such a symbolic issue in Japan's manufacturing sector, and the fact that the company is likely to post an earnings decline of this scale, has got to have a severe impact on investor sentiment," said Mizuho Asset Management fund manager Yoshihisa Okamoto. Among exporters, Advantest Corp (6857.T), the world's No.1 maker of chip testers, tumbled 14.9 percent to 1,538 yen, while Honda Motor Corp (7267.T) sank 10.3 percent to 2,305 yen. Shares of Nippon Steel lost 11.9 percent to 281 yen, while shipping firm Mitsui OSK Lines (9104.T) shed 12.8 percent to 622 yen. Financial shares also fell but many outperformed the overall market. Top lender Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (8306.T) dropped 5.9 percent to 763 yen, and No.2 Mizuho Financial Group (8411.T) slid 7.7 percent to 361,000 yen. Investors punished stocks with earnings worries. Hitachi Construction Machinery Co (6305.T), Japan's second-biggest earth-moving equipment maker, plunged 16.5 percent to 1,516 yen. The Nikkei business paper reported that Hitachi Construction could see a first profit decline in seven years in the year to March 2009 due to a sharp fall in demand in Europe and signs of weakening sales in countries such as India and Russia. |
