Japan's Nikkei 225 Drops to One-Month Low, Second Quarter GDP Revised Lower

Akira Ito
09 Sep, 2024
Tokyo

Weak market indexes persisted for the fifth session in a row, following the sharp sell-off in Friday's trading in New York. 

The Nikkei 225 and the Topix indexes closed down 0.9% and recovered from morning losses of 3%. 

Investors sold stocks on the growing concerns about the health of the U.S. economy and rising domestic inflation and wages, supporting the case for the Bank of Japan to lift rates later in the month. 

Japan's second quarter GDP growth was revised down to an annual rate of 2.9% from the preliminary estimate of 3.1%, the Cabinet Office reported Friday. 

In addition, overall bank lending in Japan increased 3% from a year ago, slightly lower than 3.2% advance in July, the Bank of Japan reported on Monday. 

Bank lending increased to 624.24 trillion yen, and excluding trusts, lending increased 3.6% to 547.3 trillion yen.

Japan's current account surplus also increased 15.1% to 3.19 trillion yen, the Ministry of Finance reported Monday. 

The surplus shot up from 1.53 trillion yen in June, and the trade deficit stood in the month at 4.48 trillion yen after exports increased 9.4% to 9.4 trillion yen and imports soared 16.8% to 9.9 trillion yen. 

Financial account surplus was 2.3 trillion yen, and capital account surplus stood at 20 billion yen. 

 

Japan Stock Movers 

The Nikkei 225 stock average declined 0.9% to 36,105.29, and the Topix index dropped 0.9% to 2,575.82. 

Tech stocks led the decliners in Tokyo after another down day in New York in Friday's trading. 

Tokyo Electron declined 2.2% to ¥21,500.0, Advantest Corp. dropped 0.6% to ¥5,830.0, and Screen Holdings fell 1.4% to ¥9,569.0. 

Fast Retailing declined 0.5% to ¥43,900.0, Isetan Mitsukoshi fell 2.4% to ¥2,169.0, and Seven & I gained 2.1% to ¥2,185.0. 

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial dropped 2.3% to ¥1,443.00, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial declined 2% to ¥8,990.0, and Mizuho Financial dropped 2.9% to ¥2,838.50.