The Japanese stock market fell sharply on Friday. In particular, the technology companies were sold, following the sell-off on Wall Street, where the tech gauge Nasdaq lost 3.5 percent.
Interest rate concerns re-emerged due to a sharp rise in the ten-year yield on the US bond market. Earlier this week, US central bank president Jerome Powell tried to reassure investors with his statement that interest rates will remain low for a long time to come.
Tokyo’s leading Nikkei went down 4 percent over the weekend at 28,966.01 points, suffering its most significant share price loss since July last year. The Japanese main index fell 3.5 percent in the last erratic stock market week. Tech investor SoftBank, a heavyweight on the Tokyo stock exchange, fell 4 percent.
The Japanese chip companies also went on sale after the heavy price losses in the American chip sector. Sumco lost 5 percent, and Advantest lost almost 7 percent. On the other hand, banks and insurers benefited from higher bond yields and were among the scarce risers.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index lost 3.1 percent in the meantime. The large Chinese tech companies Alibaba and Tencent were the worst losers, with 4.6 and 3.4 percent. The stock market gauge in Shanghai fell 2.2 percent, and the All Ordinaries in Sydney ended 2.4 percent lower.