U.S. Debt Default Worries Fuel Asian and Japanese Market Fall

Hiruki Nakamura
03 Oct, 2013
New York City

Stocks in Tokyo and Asia generally closed down as world investors began to factor in long term implications of the U.S. government shutdown and a debt default possibilities rise. U.S. is the largest debtor nation on the earth and increases its annual debt $1 trillion.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Tokyo and Asia generally closed down as world investors began to factor in long term implications of the U.S. government shutdown and a debt default possibilities rise. U.S. is the largest debtor nation on the earth and increases its annual debt $1 trillion.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo closed lower for the second day in a row as investors began to factor economic impact of longer U.S. government closure and a possible debt default.

The Nikkei index declined 0.1% to 14,157.25 and traded below its last one month average. The broader Topix index declined 0.1% to 1,173.99.

The yen closed at 97.55 near its one month high as investors began to factor long term implication of the U.S. government failure to revised debt limit.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said the government is likely to run out of money by October 17. The Congressional Budget Office, trusted by politicians and analysts, said the monthly revenues at the end of October will fall short of government obligation as payments for social security, medical insurance become due.

Stocks in Review

Tokyo Electric Power Co dropped 4.8% to 552 yen after contaminated water spilled over from a storage tank at the troubled Fukushima station. Heavy rains have made the difficult job of containing irradiated water more challenging.

Toyota Motor Corp increased 0.6% to 6,250 yen and Honda Motor Co added 0.5% to 3,735 yen and Nissan Motor Co decreased 0.4% to 978 yen.

Softbank Corp soared 4% to 13-year high of 7,530 yen and the company was valued the second most in the widely followed Nikkei 225 Average.