The Japanese stock market ended on Thursday again with a loss. Investors absorbed the sell-off on Wall Street, where the major US tech companies were sold off after a brief upswing.
The mood was further depressed by concerns about a slowdown in the global economic recovery due to rising corona infections. The other important stock market indicators in the Asian region also showed significant losses.
The Nikkei in Tokyo closed 1.1 percent lower at 23,087.82 points. Especially the Japanese steel companies and automakers, which are highly dependent on economic developments, were under pressure.
Steelmakers JFE Holdings and Kobe Steel lost 6.1 percent and 4.3 percent. Carmaker Honda and truck maker Hino Motors fell 4.2 percent and 3.3 percent respectively. Tech investor SoftBank fell 4.5 percent after the sharp price losses among American tech companies.
The main index in Shanghai dropped 1.7 percent in the meantime, and the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong lost 1.9 percent. Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi lost 4.1 percent and technology group Tencent fell 1.6 percent. The Australian All Ordinaries in Sydney fell 0.9 percent.
Seoul’s Kospi declined 2.6 percent due to a resurgence of geopolitical tensions with neighbouring North Korea.
North Korean soldiers shot and killed a missing South Korean official earlier this week, according to Yonhap news agency. It would be the first time since July 2008 that a South Korean citizen has been killed in North Korea.