RTRS: Nikkei at 1-month low on economy fears, machinery data
Japan's Nikkei share average fell 4.7 percent and touched a one-month low on Thursday, battered by growing worries about a deeper global recession and a record fall in domestic machinery orders.
Nissan Motor Co slid as it looks set to become the latest blue-chip firm to post an annual operating loss. A company source said Japan's third-largest automaker will post an operating loss instead of a previously forecast profit, hurt by sliding sales and a soaring yen.
"The machinery orders figures were very tough, worse than expected," said Takashi Ushio, head of the investment strategy division at Marusan Securities. "We've already had a lot of downward revisions, and this suggests that full-year earnings are going to be even worse than expected. There aren't any incentives to buy." But other market players said the impact of the machinery orders data, a key gauge of corporate capital spending, was limited for the broader market, though machinery shares fell.
The benchmark Nikkei at one point slid below 8,000 yen for the first time in a month, losing more than 5 percent. It shed 391.90 points to 8,046.55 and looked set for its lowest close since early December.
The broader Topix fell 2.7 percent to 797.56.
Machinery orders in Japan dropped by a record 16.2 percent in November from the previous month, in the latest sign that the country faces a deepening recession.
U.S. stocks slid on Wednesday, with Citigroup shedding more than 23 percent as it is expected to post a multibillion-dollar loss this week.
Adding to the gloom, sales at U.S. retailers fell 2.7 percent in December as the economic slowdown made consumers cut back on spending during retailers' crucial holiday selling period.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index lost 4.2 percent on Wednesday, with Japanese tech shares falling in tandem.
In Tokyo, Kyocera Corp and other tech shares slid on concern about their U.S. peers after tech bellwether Apple Inc tumbled in after-hours trade on a surprise announcement that chief executive Steve Jobs will take a medical leave of absence until June.
Kyocera slid 6.5 percent to 6,170 yen and Advantest Corp tumbled 9.3 percent to 1,219 yen. TDK Corp fell 6.7 percent to 3,340 yen. Komatsu Ltd, the world's second-biggest earth-moving equipment maker, dropped 5.2 percent to 1,081 yen, while Kubota Corp slid 4.7 percent to 525 yen and Okuma Corp, a leading machine tool manufacturer, declined 8 percent to 324 yen.
