THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
September 4, 2024 at 17:47 JST
The building that houses the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo’s Kabutocho district (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
The Nikkei 225 index on the Tokyo Stock Exchange tumbled more than 1,600 points on Sept. 4 from the previous day's close, triggered by a weaker-than-expected manufacturing index released in the United States the previous day.
Following the broad-based sell-off on Wall Street, where all three major indices closed lower, the Tokyo stock market experienced a complete rout.
The Nikkei 225 eventually closed the day’s session at 37,047.61, down 1,638.7 points, or 4.24 percent, from the previous day's close.
At its lowest point, the index plummeted by more than 1,800 points, falling below 37,000.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 626.15 points, or 1.51 percent, lower, while the Nasdaq Composite Index suffered a significant 3.26 percent decline.
Furthermore, concerns over a Chinese economic slowdown led to a sharp drop in oil prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures contract fell more than 4 percent to settle at $70.34 per barrel, marking its lowest closing level in nearly eight and a half months.
In the Tokyo market, selling pressure was particularly strong among semiconductor-related stocks, which had seen the biggest declines on Wall Street.
Additionally, export-oriented stocks faced selling as the Japanese yen strengthened against the U.S. dollar, briefly touching 144 yen to the greenback.
(This article was written by Takao Shinkai and Junichi Kamiyama.)
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