Business News
Japanese stocks fall on overseas losses
Mar 29, 2012, 6:36 GMT
Tokyo - Japanese shares dropped Thursday after overnight losses on Wall Street and European markets and as investor sentiment was also hurt by declines on other Asian bourses.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 67.78 points, or 0.67 per cent, to end at 10,114.79 while the broader Topix index was down 6.69 points, or 0.77 per cent, at 857.74.
Some exporters dropped further in the afternoon as other Asian markets also fell. By midafternoon, China's Shanghai Composite Index had declined 1.67 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index had lost 1.64 per cent.
Shares in Honda Motor Co fell 2.16 per cent, Toyota Motor Corp dropped 1.65 per cent and Canon Inc was down 1 per cent.
Tokyo stocks opened lower following overnight losses on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.54 per cent Wednesday as energy shares declined due to falling crude oil prices after an increase in supply.
On currency markets at 3 pm (0600 GMT) in Tokyo, the dollar traded at 82.66-69 yen, down from Wednesday's 5 pm quote of 82.79-80 yen.
The euro was quoted at 110.09-10 yen, down from 110.58-62 yen late Wednesday, and at 1.3315-3316 dollars, down from 1.3357-3358 dollars.
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