Japan’s Nikkei drops 5% after Wall Street sell-off

TOKYO – Japan’s Nikkei share average tumbled 5% on Friday to hit a six-month low after Wall Street slumped overnight on U.S. economic worries, while uncertainties over the Japanese central bank’s tightening path also weighed on the market.

The Nikkei was down 4.7% at 36,333.21, as of 0128 GMT. Earlier in the day, it declined as much as 5% to hit its lowest since Feb. 7.

The broader Topix was down 5.5% at 2,554.85.

U.S. stocks kicked off August sharply lower after a round of economic data spurred concerns the economy may be slowing faster than anticipated while the Federal Reserve maintains a restrictive monetary policy.

“Momentum in the U.S. market turned negative overnight, with concerns about recession rising. That weighed on Japanese equities a lot today,” said Yugo Tsuboi, chief strategist at Daiwa Securities.

“In Japan, the market is uncertain about whether the BOJ will raise interest rates again this year and by how much,” said Tsuboi, adding that higher rates could strengthen the yen and that could hurt exporters.

Chip-making equipment maker Tokyo Electron tanked 12% to drag the Nikkei the most. Chip-testing equipment maker Advantest slipped 7%. Technology investor SoftBank Group lost 6.8%.

All the 33 industry sub-indexes on the Tokyo Stock Exchange fell, with financial sectors leading the losses. The brokerage sector lost 11% and the banking sector fell 8.4%.

The Nikkei Volatility index was near 28%, its highest since April 19.

(Reporting by Junko Fujita, additional reporting by Ankur Banerjee; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)