Tokyo (awp/afp) – The Tokyo Stock Exchange started to decline on Monday morning, weakened in particular by the very mixed session on Wall Street last Friday, whose technology stocks continued to suffer from the prospect of more aggressive monetary tightening by the Fed.
The flagship Nikkei index lost 0.46% to 26,861.60 points around 12:40 a.m. GMT and the broader Topix index lost 0.27% to 1,891.60 points.
Tech was among the weakest sectors on the Nikkei, weighed down by the sharp decline in the Nasdaq index in New York on Friday amid Fed fears.
Concerns about the economic impact of the health crisis in China, with the strict containment of Shanghai which currently continues, also weighed on trade in Tokyo.
On the side of values
SONY IN SUFFERING: Like other Japanese new technology stocks, the title of the giant Sony was in bad shape, dropping 3.07% to 11,820 yen around 00:30 GMT. SoftBank Group lost 1.21% to 5,614 yen.
On the side of oil and currencies
Oil prices fell sharply Monday morning in Asia, the worsening health crisis in China stoking fears about demand from the world’s largest importer of crude.
Around 0:30 GMT the price of a barrel of American WTI fell 1.32% to 96.96 dollars and that of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea lost 1.30% to 101.44 dollars.
In terms of currencies, the yen fell against the dollar, which was worth 124.47 yen around 12:30 a.m. GMT against 124.34 yen on Friday at 9:00 p.m. GMT.
The euro, which benefited from the results of the first round of the French presidential election in line with expectations on Sunday, with Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen qualified in order for the second round, climbed to 135.49 yen around 00:40 GMT against 135.24 yen at the end of last week.
The European currency also rose slightly against the greenback, to one euro for 1.0884 dollars against 1.0877 dollars on Friday at 9:00 p.m. GMT.
etb/nzg