The Japanese Nikkei index fell at the end of the trading session on Friday, the twentieth of October, after major declines on Wall Street, recording weekly losses.
At the end of the session, the Nikkei index fell by about 0.54% to 31,259 points, recording weekly losses of 3.2%.
As for the Topix index, it declined by 0.38% at 2255 points, while recording weekly losses of more than 2%.
Investors sold Japanese stocks after the yield on 10-year US Treasury bonds reached 5% for the first time since July 20, 2007. On the other hand, US stocks fell, amid investors’ concerns about whether interest rates would remain high for a longer period.
“The market opened lower, but the Nikkei index trimmed its losses because investors repurchased stocks when they fell… This is a pattern in the latest market movements,” said John Morita, general manager of the research department at Chepagin Asset Management.
The shares of Fast Retailing Company, owner of the Uniqlo brand, fell 1.51%, becoming the biggest losers on the Nikkei index, and the shares of SoftBank Technology Investment Group lost 2.04%.
On the other hand, Daiichi Sankyo shares jumped 14.42% after the pharmaceutical company announced a $5.5 billion agreement with Merck to develop three potential cancer treatments.
