Japan's Nikkei drops again after falls on Thursday 24 May 2013 Last updated at 07:56 Continue reading the main story Last Updated at 24 May 2013, 07:45 Shares in Japan have fallen again in volatile trading, adding to the global sell-off in shares seen on Thursday. The Nikkei 225 index was down 1.8% by mid afternoon in Tokyo, after initially rising in early trading. Other Asian indexes were also broadly down. The index fell nearly 7.8% on Thursday - its worst one-day drop since the aftermath of the tsunami in March 2011. There have been concerns over weak Chinese manufacturing data, and fears that the US may cut stimulus measures. Traders suggested the market was still feeling the after-effects of yesterday's drop. Trading is extremely nervous. Once the Nikkei turned into negative territory, selling led to more selling," said Toshikazu Horiuchi, a broker with IwaiCosmo Securities. A spike in the yield on Japanese 10-year government bonds to 1%, its highest level in a year, also sparked a sell-off as stocks fall when yields - which help predict future interest rates - rise. Market volatility Expectations of higher interest rates typically cause stock prices to drop as the cost of borrowing becomes more expensive for investors, including businesses and households. The stock sell-offs came after a long period of rising share prices, and the volatile trading prompted government officials to try to assuage fears over market instability. "There's a lot of volatility from Japan... which is not good for market confidence," said Stan Shamu, market strategist at IG. Speaking before Japan's parliament, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that his government would "proceed with measures to secure sustainable fiscal structure, and secure market confidence." The Nikkei is 60% higher than it was six months ago, when Mr Abe was elected and introduced a dynamic set of monetary and fiscal policies designed to bring back inflation and jolt the country out of its 20-year economic torpor. In the US on Thursday, the Dow Jones closed flat, with a fall of 0.08% to 15,294.50 points. In London, Frankfurt and Paris all closed down by about 2%.