Japanese shares sharply down in early trade

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-11-06 10:12

TOKYO -- Japanese shares fell sharply in early trade Thursday, pressured by lingering fears over a global recession as investors looked past Barack Obama's US presidential victory.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average dropped 440.59 points, or 4.63 percent, to 9,080.65 as of 9:50 am (0050 GMT) in line with a 5.05-percent fall on Wall Street Wednesday. Investors also locked in profits after the Nikkei index jumped more than 4 percent the previous day.

"The jubilance of Obama's election victory was replaced by ongoing worries over a slowdown in the global economy," said Yutaka Miura, senior strategist at Shinko Securities.

Miura said sentiment turned downbeat in Tokyo as investors sold export-linked shares on the back of a strong yen. A rising yen hurts exporters like Sony and Toyota as it cuts the value of their profits when repatriated to Japan.

The broader Topix also shed 4.25 percent to 925.79 in early trade Thursday.

In New York Wednesday, volatility swept over the US market again, with the Dow Jones industrials falling nearly 500 points and all the major indexes tumbling more than 5 percent.

While the market had expected Obama to win the election, investors were worrying about the weakness of the world's largest economy and pondered what the Obama administration might do. Analysts said the market is already anxious about who Obama selects as the next Treasury Secretary, as well as who he picks for other Cabinet positions.