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Friday July 02, 04:09
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Japan Stocks Fall Over 1 Pct, Banks Slide
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Japanese shares fell more than one percent on Friday as UFJ Holdings Inc. and other banks were bruised for a second straight session while technology stocks followed U.S. peers lower on concern about earnings at Intel Corp.
Selling was broad-based, with analysts saying investors were keen to lock in profits after strong numbers in a major Japanese corporate survey the previous day failed to lift the benchmark Nikkei average above the 12,000 line.
Banks, also hit by a Goldman Sachs downgrade of the sector on Thursday, were the among the biggest percentage losers after UFJ’s top shareholder Sovereign Asset Management cut its stake.
"Tokyo has just followed New York down and after that, the slide in banking stocks has been the biggest feature of the market over the last two days," said Koichiro Suzuki, manager of investment at Sompo Japan Asset Management.
The Nikkei fell 1.47 percent or 174.52 points to end at 11,721.49.
That followed a rise to a nine-week closing high of 11,896.01 on Thursday after robust numbers from the central bank’s quarterly "tankan" survey of corporate sentiment. The index edged 0.05 percent lower for the week.
The broad-based TOPIX index finished Friday down 1.25 percent at 1,173.55.
Market participants said foreigners were mostly opting to stay out of the market on Friday -- in contrast with their buying after strong numbers in previous tankans and other key economic data in the past year -- which also weighed on sentiment.
Trading volume on the first section fell below 1 billion shares for the first time since Feb. 26, coming in at 971.85 million shares.
But turnover by value stayed above 1 trillion yen ($9.22 billion), extending its record long-running streak since Feb. 27. Decliners far outnumbered gainers 1,198 to 272.
(Reuters)
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