Nikkei Plunges 3% on Greece Worries and Deepening Bear Market in Oil

Hiruki Nakamura
06 Jan, 2015
New York City

Japanese stocks plunged after Greece related worries dragged markets in Europe and deepening bear market in oil also added to market anxieties in New York trading. Auto makers reported better-than-expected U.S. sales in December.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Japanese stocks plunged after Greece related worries dragged markets in Europe and deepening bear market in oil also added to market anxieties in New York trading. Auto makers reported better-than-expected U.S. sales in December.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo tumbled following Asia-wide sell-off sparked by the sharp declines in European and New York markets and deepening bear market in crude oil.

Investors sold stocks in Europe on the growing worries that Greece may renege its financial obligation to international lenders as the nation approaches snap election and political rhetoric heats up.

In addition, Germany reported 0.1% increase in inflation index in December, sharply lower than the inflation target set by the European Central Bank. Investors worried that stagnant prices may entrench deflationary forces in the largest economy in the euro zone.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average declined 525.52 or 3% to 16,883.19 and the broader Topix index dropped 39.95 or 2.8% to 1,361.14.

The market decline was the largest since the global equity sell-off since June 2013.

The yen strengthened to 118.91 against one dollar.

Stocks in Review

Ait Corporation rose 0.4% to 798 yen after the cargo delivery service provider reported net sales in the third-quarter ending in November climbed 14% to 16.25 billion yen from 14.26 billion yen a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter fell 1.1% to 749 million yen compared to 757 million yen and earnings per share slid to 39.19 yen from 39.61 yen in the same period a year ago.

Sony Corporation slipped 1.2% to 2,439.50 yen after the mobile and electronic products maker announced as of January 4, worldwide sales of its PlayStation4 video game consoles exceeded 18.5 million units including 4.1 million units in the holiday season.

Sony also said there are 10.9 million online subscribers on PlayStation, worldwide owners of PlayStation 4 purchased about 81.8 million products of digital and retail software.

Kaneko Seeds Co., Ltd slumped 2.3% to 1,000 yen after the gardening products maker said net sales in the second-quarter ending in November jumped 4.7% to 24.80 billion yen from 23.69 billion yen a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter surged 30.9% to 372 million yen compared to 284 million yen and earnings per share jumped to 31.68 yen from 24.20 yen in the same period a year ago.