Tokyo (awp / afp) – The Tokyo Stock Exchange fell Thursday morning, weighed down by the decline in Wall Street the day before on concerns linked to the rebound in oil prices and by profit taking after a series of seven sessions of increases .
The flagship Nikkei index dropped 1.24% to 27,693.23 points around 01:00 GMT, and the broader Topix index lost 1.09% to 1,957.13 points.
The New York Stock Exchange ended at half mast on Wednesday, accusing the backlash of the rebound of the last sessions as oil prices started to rise again, stimulated by the prospect of new sanctions against Russia and the fall in American stocks.
“Oil prices are likely to stay above $100 a barrel for some time, which will put a damper on the global economy,” commented Ito Takashi of Nomura Securities, quoted by Bloomberg. .
If we also take into account the uncertainty regarding the results of Japanese companies for the next fiscal year which will begin on April 1, “it will be difficult for Japanese stocks to continue to progress”, he added.
On the side of values
REDEMPTION OF SHARES OF TOYOTA: the title Toyota gained 1.12% to 2,161 yen, against the downward trend of the Nikkei. The automaker, whose stock price has suffered in recent months from disruptions in its production, announced on Wednesday a buyback of its own shares for a total amount of 100 billion yen (750 million euros).
On the side of currencies and oil
On the foreign exchange market, the yen rose a little against the dollar, to 121.09 yen for one dollar around 01:00 GMT against 121.15 yen on Wednesday at 21:00 GMT.
The Japanese currency was stable against the euro, which was worth 133.31 yen against 133.32 yen the day before.
The European currency hardly changed either against the greenback, at the rate of one euro for 1.1009 dollars against 1.1004 dollars on Wednesday at 9:00 p.m. GMT.
Oil prices continued to rise: around 00:30 GMT the price of a barrel of American WTI gained 0.77% to 115.82 dollars and that of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea took 0.86% to 122.64 dollars.
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