Tokyo (awp / afp) – The Tokyo Stock Exchange was down sharply on Friday morning, weighed down by worries about the situation in Ukraine, while investors awaited the unemployment figures in the United States expected later in the day.
The flagship Nikkei index fell 2.6% to 25,887.27 points around 01:00 GMT and the broader Topix index dropped 2% to 1,844.20 points.
Wall Street ended down Thursday, discouraged by the lack of progress in discussions between Ukraine and Russia and against a backdrop of soaring raw materials.
Faced with rising black gold prices, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced Thursday an envelope equivalent to nearly 3 billion euros to limit the economic impact on the population and economic activity.
On the side of values
SUZUKI: the manufacturer of vehicles and two-wheelers Suzuki (-3.62% to 4,256 yen) announced Thursday the suspension of its exports to Russia due to logistical problems, after similar announcements from other Japanese manufacturers. Toyota (-2.73% to 1,991 yen) will stop its production there “until further notice” from Friday.
On the side of currencies and oil
The yen was stable against the greenback around 01:00 GMT, at 115.43 yen to the dollar against 115.46 yen on Thursday at 21:00 GMT.
The Japanese currency rose against the euro, which was trading for 127.25 yen against 127.78 yen the day before.
And the euro was trading for 1.1021 dollars, against 1.1066 dollars on Thursday.
Oil prices were on the rise again after a break the day before following their soaring to record levels since 2008: around 01:00 GMT the price of a barrel of American WTI gained 3.99% to 111.97 dollars.
mac/mlb