Nikkei 225 Dives as Tariff Fears Keep Pummeling Global Markets

Jiji Press

16:30 JST, April 7, 2025

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average nosedived Monday as global markets were routed by worries linked to U.S. trade tariffs, marking its third-biggest single-day point loss on record.

The index closed down 2,644 points, or 7.82%, from Friday at 31,136.58, its lowest finish since Oct. 31, 2023. The index extended its losing streak to three trading days, giving up over 4,500 points during the period.

The U.S. market was battered Friday on fears that U.S. President Donald Trump’s high tariffs and Chinese retaliatory tariffs in response to them could slam the brakes on the global economy.

A spike in trade friction between the world’s biggest and second-biggest economies is “causing economic worries not just for the United States and China but also for the whole world,” an official at a Japanese securities house said.

In Tokyo, sectors sensitive to economic conditions, such as nonferrous metal makers and banks, succumbed to especially heavy selling. All 225 component issues of the Nikkei average and over 99% of issues traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s top-tier Prime section fell.

Market players were reluctant to buy amid strong uncertainty over the economic outlook.

“In addition to the effects of the U.S. reciprocal tariffs, (possible) retaliatory measures of various countries are unknown,” an official at a major securities company said.

The benchmark 10-year Japanese government bond yield, a key long-term interest rate, sank to as low as 1.105%, the lowest in about three months. Investors bought JGBs, regarded as safe assets, as stock markets around the world slipped on Trump tariff concerns.