Tokyo: Stocks drop 1.78% after US, European sell-offs

[Tokyo] Tokyo stocks dropped 1.78 per cent Thursday after sell-offs on US and European markets due to worries over the global economy and the spreading Ebola epidemic.

The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange lost 268.36 points to 14,805.16 at the start.

The dollar plunged after the weak US data appeared to suggest the Federal Reserve could keep its near-zero interest rate policy longer than the mid-2015 timeline for a rate hike that had been expected.

The dollar was at 105.92 yen early Thursday, flat from 105.91 yen in New York Wednesday afternoon but sharply down from 107.33 yen in Tokyo earlier Wednesday. AFP