Tokyo stocks tumbled more than three percent Friday as a key Bank of Japan (BoJ) survey showed confidence among major manufacturers dropped to its lowest level since 2013, while Panasonic plunged on a disappointing profit forecast. Shortly before the markets opened, the BoJ released its closely watched Tankan survey, a poll of more than 10,000 firms seen as the most comprehensive indicator of how Japan Inc is faring.
The quarterly report showed confidence deteriorated to the lowest point since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe kicked off his programme to end deflation, dubbed Abenomics, in early 2013. The Tankan's weaker-than-expected reading was likely to heap more pressure on policymakers to unleash another round of stimulus, as evidence of a slowdown in the world's number three economy piles up.
Investors are now awaiting the release of US jobs figures later in the day. "The economy is looking a little weak," Juichi Wako, a senior strategist at Nomura Holdings, told Bloomberg News. "It's difficult to make a move ahead of US jobs data and I expect the market to be weighed down by this." The benchmark Nikkei 225 index ended lower for the fourth straight session, dropping 3.55 percent, or 594.51 points, to 16,164.16. Over the week, it lost 4.93 percent.
The broader Topix index of all first-section shares gave up 3.40 percent, or 45.80 points, to finish at 1,301.40. Over the week, the index lost 4.73 percent. In currency trading, the dollar weakened to 112.17 yen from 112.60 yen in New York on Thursday. The market largely shrugged off better-than-expected Chinese manufacturing data in March, which showed the first expansion of activity since June. "Selling pressure is dragging on since early trade," Toshikazu Horiuchi, a broker at IwaiCosmo Securities Co, Ltd, said before the market closed.
"Any factors or indicators are seen from negative viewpoints," he told AFP. "Tokyo has sunk into a typical bear market." On Wall Street on Thursday, the Dow and the S&P 500 both closed 0.2 percent lower Thursday. The tech-rich Nasdaq edged up marginally. In Tokyo share trading, Panasonic dived 12.13 percent to 908.1 yen after forecasting an 8.5 percent drop in profit this fiscal year as it pushes forward with a wide ranging restructuring. Toyota fell 3.04 percent to 5,771 yen while Sony dropped 4.51 percent to 2,762.5 yen.
Embattled airbag supplier Takata resumed its fall, tumbling 5.93 percent to 412 yen, after rebounding following an eye-watering 20 percent plunge on Wednesday. That decline was fuelled by a report, which the company denied, that it has estimated in a "worst case" scenario it may recall 287.5 million airbag inflators at a cost of 2.7 trillion yen. Takata has been struggling to deal with a global crisis involving its airbags that has been linked to at least 10 deaths.
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