Tokyo: Stocks drop sharply at open

TOKYO stocks opened sharply lower on Friday (Jun 17) after a rout on Wall Street as more central banks hiked interest rates in efforts to tame runaway inflation, fuelling recession fears.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 2.60 per cent, or 687.44 points, at 25,743.76 in early trade, while the broader Topix index slipped 2.44 per cent, or 45.50 points, to 1,822.31. AFP