Tokyo stocks end more than 2% lower

Tokyo stocks ended sharply lower on Monday (Mar 11), with the Nikkei briefly falling as much as three per cent on the back of a stronger yen and a sell-off in semiconductor shares.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index dropped 2.19 per cent, or 868.45 points, to close at 38,820.49, while the broader Topix index lost 2.20 per cent, or 59.97 points, to 2,666.83.

The dollar stood at 146.99 yen, against 147.06 yen in New York on Friday.

Investors were spooked by “falls in US high-tech shares including chip giant Nvidia, and the yen’s rise against the dollar”, IwaiCosmo Securities said in a note.

The falls also pointed to the market’s desire to “correct its course after drastic increases since the beginning of the year”, the brokerage said.

The Nikkei surpassed 40,000 last week for the first time, having broken in February the record set just before Japan’s asset bubble burst in the early 1990s.

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Among the biggest losers on Monday were SoftBank Group, which tumbled 6.03 per cent to 8,625 yen, while chip-testing equipment maker Advantest gave up 4.77 per cent to 6,599 yen.

Sony Group trimmed 1.73 per cent to 12,745 yen and Toyota plunged 3.10 per cent to 3,498 yen. REUTERS