Nikkei Plunges 1.9% After Fed Uncertainty Continues

Hiruki Nakamura
18 Sep, 2015
New York City

Stocks in Tokyo fell sharply after the U.S. Fed held rates as expected but failed to remove a layer of uncertainty and held out for a possible rate hike at one of the two scheduled meeting in the rest of the year.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Tokyo fell sharply after the U.S. Fed held rates as expected but failed to remove a layer of uncertainty and held out for a possible rate hike at one of the two scheduled meeting in the rest of the year.[/R]

Market averages in Tokyo closed lower after the U.S. Fed held rates as expected but the central bank cautioned rates are likely to rise before the end of the year.

However, market uncertainty is likely to continue for several weeks as investors shifted focus to the next meeting in late October.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average slumped 362.06 or 1.9% to 18,070.21 and the broader Topix index dropped 29.53 or 1.9% to 1,462.38.

For the week, Nikkei 225 decreased 0.9%.

The yen strengthened to 119.45 against a dollar.

Stocks in Review

Kyocera Corporation slumped 3.1% to 5,848 yen after the electronics equipment maker plans to acquire Germany-based Ceyoniq Group for more than 5 billion yen.

Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp declined 4.4% to 237 yen after the steelmaker win lawsuit and may received 30 billion yen from South Korea-based steel producer Posco.

Posco was alleged to illegally acquire the cutting-edge technology of the Japanese rival and Nippon has sought 98.6 billion yen in compensation for the damages.

Both the steel producers are expected to reach an out-of-court settlement later this month.

Oracle Corporation Japan dropped 2.3% to 4,690 yen after the business applications developer reported revenues in the first-quarter ending in August jumped 2.6% from a year ago to 37.57 billion yen.

Net income in the quarter surged 12.6% to 7.48 billion yen compared to 6.64 billion yen and diluted earnings per share increased to 58 yen from 52 yen in the same period a year ago.

The company forecasted revenues for the year to jump between 2% to 5% and earnings per share in the range of 245 yen to 254 yen.