Japan's Nikkei to suffer its biggest weekly decline in 11 months due to Middle East conflict
Investors slashed riskier assets as renewed worries arose over the Middle East conflict.
The Nikkei Index was flat as of 0219 GMT. It had dropped as much as 1.4% in the morning, and is on course for its biggest weekly percentage drop since April 4. This week, the?benchmark has fallen by nearly 6%. The broad?Topix index held steady at 3702.7.
Shota Sando is an equity market analyst with Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Laboratory. If it is clear that oil prices won't reach the often-cited $100 per barrel level, this would help to stabilize sentiment.
Energy explorers index, which is down by nearly 3%, was one of the worst performing sub-indices in Tokyo Stock Exchange 33 sector sub-indices. Inpex shares fell by 3%, while Japan Petroleum Exploration lost 2.6%.
Reports indicate that the U.S. Treasury Department is expected to announce soon measures aimed at combating the rising energy prices following the conflict with Iran, including potential actions involving the oil-futures market.
Separately, Fujikura, an optical fiber and cable producer in Japan, fell 6.6% as the selling of U.S. optical fibre stocks tied to AI data centres weighed down on Japan's nonferrous-metals sector.
Casio Computer?fell 5.8% after an announcement that it will be removed from Nikkei gauge?from April.
Software-related shares also rose in line with the U.S. Overnight, the markets in the U.S. Shift and Baycurrent both gained 6.6%.
The Nikkei had 101 gainers and 122 losers. (Reporting and editing by Christopher Cushing, Sherry Jacob Phillips, and Satoshi Sugiyama)
(source: Reuters)
