TOKYO: Tokyo’s key Nikkei index fell on Friday (Apr 4), extending the previous day’s losses after US President Donald Trump sent Wall Street stocks tumbling with sweeping new trade tariffs.
In early trade, the Nikkei 225 index was down 1.8 per cent at 34,108.23, adding to a drop of 2.77 percent on Thursday. The broader Topix index was off 2.3 per cent, having lost 3.08 per cent the previous day.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.26 per cent in thin trade, with markets in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan closed for a holiday.
The STI was down about 1.4 per cent at 9.15am.
On Thursday, Wall Street’s tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite plunged 6 per cent, while the retreat in the S&P 500 was its biggest in a day since 2020.
In Europe, both the Paris and Frankfurt stock exchanges finished the day with losses of more than three percent.
Oil prices plummeted more than 6 per cent on concerns an economic downturn sparked by Trump’s trade policies would hit demand. The price of gold hit another new record.
The dollar slumped by as much as 2.6 per cent versus the euro, its biggest intraday plunge in a decade, and suffered sharp losses also against the yen and British pound.
On Friday, the US currency fetched 146.33 yen in early Asian trade, rebounding slightly from 145.99 yen in New York.
“US Treasury Secretary (Scott) Bessent has said the current figures are the upper limit, suggesting there is some room for individual negotiations,” Tokai Tokyo Securities said.
“But with some moves to impose retaliatory tariffs by other countries and regions, the situation seems to be becoming a trade war,” the brokerage said.
