By Takahiko Hyuga April 19 (Bloomberg) -- Nomura Holdings Inc. led securities firms lower in Tokyo on concern the fraud lawsuit filed against Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in the U.S. may hurt brokerages in Japan. Nomura fell 3.8 percent, its biggest decline since Feb. 5, to 662 yen at the 11 a.m. trading break. The Topix Securities Index dropped the most among all industry groups on the benchmark Topix. Goldman Sachs shares had their biggest loss since January 2009 after the Securities and Exchange Commission sued the bank with fraud related to packaging and selling collateralized debt obligations linked to subprime mortgages. “Nomura is the only Japanese brokerage that operates globally,” said Fumiyuki Nakanishi, a strategist at Tokyo-based SMBC Friend Securities Co. “Investors were surprised to hear Goldman Sachs is being sued, and they are selling the stocks by association; people learned a lesson from the subprime crisis when they initially believed Japan wouldn’t be seriously hurt.” Daiwa Securities Group Inc., Japan’s second largest brokerage, fell 3.4 percent to 483 yen, its biggest decline since Jan. 29. Goldman Sachs faces a regulatory probe in Britain and scrutiny from the German government after the SEC sued the firm for fraud tied to collateralized debt obligations. The firm denies any wrongdoing. Yuji Takahashi, a spokesman for Japan’s Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission, declined to comment on Goldman Sachs. To contact the reporter on this story: Takahiko Hyuga in Tokyo at thyuga@bloomberg.net

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