Economy

Tokyo Stocks Sharply Lower in Early Afternoon

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
Tokyo Stock Exchange

Jiji Press

13:49 JST, August 2, 2023

Tokyo, Aug. 2 (Jiji Press)—Tokyo stocks were sharply lower in early afternoon trading Wednesday as profit-taking hit a wide range of issues following the key Nikkei average’s gain totaling over 700 points in the past two days.

The Nikkei average of 225 selected issues listed on the Prime section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange stood at 32,765.60 at 12:46 p.m., down 710.98 points, or 2.12 pct, from Tuesday, after ending the morning session with a loss of 615.29 points.

The market was downbeat from the outset of Wednesday’s trading in the wake of overnight drops of the tech-heavy U.S. Nasdaq composite index and the S&P 500 index, brokers said.

In interdealer bond trading in Tokyo, the yield on the most recent issue of 10-year Japanese government bonds, regarded as Japan’s benchmark long-term interest rate, rose to 0.620 pct in the early afternoon, hitting the highest level since June 2014.