Wednesday, Tokyo shares were sharply lower in early trade after Wall Street plunged overnight on a lower-than-expected interest rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve. The Fed cut its federal funds target rate and trimmed its discount rate by 25 basis points each. At 10:37 a.m. local time, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index was down 292.37 points at 15,752.35 and the broader-based Topix Index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was losing 24.33 points to 1,542.69. In early deals, the U.S. dollar was being quoted at upper 110-yen level. At 10:17 a.m. local time, the U.S. dollar was quoted at 110.84-110.85 yen, down 1.01 yen from Tuesday's 5:00 p.m. quotes of 111.85-111.88 yen in Tokyo. On the economic front, unadjusted current account surplus grew by 45.7% annually in October to 2.29 trillion yen, 10th straight month of expansion, according to data released by the Finance Ministry. Analysts forecasted a surplus of 2.071 trillion yen. Meanwhile, corporate goods prices rose 2.3% on year in November, according to the Bank of Japan. Banking stocks were trading weak, with Mizuho Financial Group plunging 2.68%, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group losing 1.63%, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group tumbling 2.29% and Resona Holdings falling 0.92%. Export-oriented auto and high-tech issues lost ground after yen strengthened in early deals. Among automakers, Honda fell 2.06%, Toyota dropped 1.73%, Nissan plunged 2.38%, Mazda lost 1.69%, and Suzuki gave away 2.31%. Losers among high tech stocks included Advantest 4.00%, Tokyo Electron 2.70%, Kyocera 1.98%, Fanuc 2.97%, Matsushita Electric Industrial 0.85%, Sony 1.77%, NEC 1.49%, and Oki Electric Industry 1.52%. Fujitsu rose 1.38% and Minebea gained 0.56%. In the oil space, Nippon Mining Holdings jumped 1.81%, Nippon Oil rose 1.74% and Showa Shell Sekiyu KK added 0.32% after crude oil prices surged on Tuesday.
December 11, 2007 9:10 PM