Tokyo (awp / afp) – The Nikkei index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange widened its losses Thursday, dropping more than 3% at midday, the day after a meeting of the American Federal Reserve (Fed) which did not not reassure investors about the continuation of its monetary policy.
Tokyo’s flagship index lost 3.31% to 26,117.54 points around 03:45 GMT, and the broader Topix index fell 2.83% to 1,838.27 points.
The US central bank signaled on Wednesday its intention to raise its key rates in March, as the markets expected.
Jerome Powell, the head of the institution, however, remained evasive on the timing and volume of the reduction in monetary support, which tensed investors. After experiencing violent fluctuations, Wall Street ended Wednesday in dispersed order.
“Japanese stocks initially reacted relatively calmly” to the Fed’s announcements, but “when the Asian markets fall, the phenomenon also affects” Japanese stocks, commented Tomo Kinoshita of Invesco Asset Management, quoted by the Bloomberg agency. .
The Hang Seng index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange thus lost 2.5% around 04:00 GMT.
mac/etb/ybl