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TOKYO, March 24 (Reuters) – Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell on Wednesday for the fourth session in a row as renewed concerns over the return of coronavirus lockdowns in Europe and falling oil prices dampened hopes an acceleration of the world economy.
The Nikkei 225 index ended down 2.04% at 28,405.52. The larger Topix fell 2.18% to 1,928.58, posting its largest daily percentage drop since February 26 and its third straight session of decline.
Energy stocks led the decline as Germany’s extension of pandemic lockdowns and lingering doubts about the safety of a popular coronavirus vaccine dampened expectations of a rebound in economic growth and demand for oil.
However, some tech stocks have been boosted by plans to increase investment in advanced semiconductor production to alleviate global supply shortages.
Sentiment for Japanese stocks was somewhat cautious as investors are expected to post profits before fiscal year end on the last day of this month.
“The fall in oil prices is a direct blow to the energy sector, but you can also see investors selling stocks which until recently were going up very strongly,” said Takashi Nishizawa, head of research. in investment at Nomura Securities.
“Investors are starting to realize that their optimism about the outlook was a bit over the top.”
The index’s biggest losing percentage was Unitika Ltd, down 9.25%, followed by ANA Holdings Inc, losing 7.21%, and Mazda Motor Corp, down 5.92%.
The index’s winningest percentage was Nikon Corp, which rose 6.44% on speculation that it would benefit from US semiconductor maker Intel Corp’s decision to significantly expand its manufacturing capacity from advanced chips.
Tokyo Electron Ltd rose 5.06% and Screen Holdings Co Ltd rose 1.66% after the Nikkei newspaper announced that the two companies would collaborate with a Japanese government project that would invest in domestic manufacturing facilities for chips from new generation.
The volume of shares traded on the main board was 1.41 billion, up from 1.44 billion on average over the past 30 days. (Reporting by Stanley White, editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Subhranshu Sahu)
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