Why did this happen?

Please make sure your browser supports JavaScript and cookies and that you are not blocking them from loading. For more information you can review our Terms of Service and Cookie Policy.</s>Singapore: The Nikkei 225 Stock Average slipped below the 20,000 level and was headed for bear market territory in the latest blow for Japanese equities experiencing their worst December on record. The Nikkei 225 fell 4.2 percent to 19,310.90 in Tokyo as of 10 a.m. Tuesday, the first time the blue-chip stock gauge has traded below 20,000 since September 2017. The measure was down over 20 percent from a high on Oct. 2, heading for a bear market just days after the broader Topix index tumbled to that distinction. Japanese markets were shut Monday for a public holiday.

The S&P 500 plunged almost 3 percent to close at a 20-month low after news over the weekend that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin called top executives from the six largest U.S. banks to discuss liquidity and a Bloomberg News report that President Donald Trump inquired about firing Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.

“The Trump bubble, which has brought gains in U.S. stocks and the dollar, is collapsing,” said Mitsushige Akino, an executive officer at Ichiyoshi Asset Management Co. in Tokyo. “The more stocks fall, the more investor sentiment gets worse, so there’s more people who need to sell temporarily, such as stop-loss selling.”

Japanese stocks have been caught in a global market rout, spurred by concerns about everything from the U.S.-China trade war to global central banks’ moves to tighten monetary policy. Sentiment has deteriorated in December, with foreign investors offloading billions of dollars in the country’s shares. For Justin Tang, the head of Asian research at United First Partners in Singapore, 20,000 is an important support level, the breaching of which confirms downside momentum.

“This will be the last bastion of hope for Japanese investors,” Tang said.

The Nikkei 225 currently trades at 12.9 times estimated 12-month forward earnings, the lowest level since November 2012. Jaiganesh Balasubramaniam, a market technician at Cashthechaos.com, says he’s expecting it to rebound.

It’s “not very” important, Balasubramaniam said of breaching 20,000. “It’s just psychological. Round numbers. The Nikkei will briefly dip below 20,000 to around 19,800 and then will bounce.”

The broader Topix index is down 15 percent this month, headed for its worst-ever December in data going back to 1949. The move has been exacerbated by a strengthening yen, which tends to serve as a haven in times of market sell-offs. The Japanese currency has strengthened for eight straight days against the dollar, and is up 3 percent this month.

“It’s more a reaction to the yen,” Kerry Craig, a Melbourne-based global market strategist at JP Morgan Asset Management, said of the Nikkei’s recent declines. Craig said he’s positive on Japanese stocks in the longer term, because of positive earnings forecasts and the country’s corporate governance overhaul. But more immediately, he said, it’s hard to escape the global stock rout.

Japan is “very much a beta market that’s going to react to the global growth story,” Craig said. “It’s right next to China, so it’s going to get hit by that as well.”

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.</s>Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index dived more than five percent in morning trade Tuesday amid rising doubts about the US economy and fears sparked by a US government funding crisis.</s>[TOKYO] Tokyo stocks opened more than three per cent higher on Thursday, with investors heartened by Wall Street's best performance in nine years.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index jumped 3.54 per cent or 684.32 points to 20,011.38 in the first few minutes of trade while the broader Topix index was up 3.81 per cent or 54.55 points at 1,486.02.</s>Japan’s key Nikkei stock index briefly lost more than 5 percent, or 1,000 points, to trade in the 19,100 level on Tuesday morning.

Tokyo stocks opened sharply lower and extended their losses, with the Nikkei sliding below the psychologically important 20,000 mark for the first time in 15 months. The slide came as fears of a global economic slowdown amid plunging U.S. shares — as well as a stronger yen — hurt investor sentiment.

The Nikkei 225 stock average ended the morning session at 19,147.45, down 1,018.74 from Friday’s close.

The S&P 500 plunged almost 3 percent to close at a 20-month low after news over the weekend that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin called top executives from the six largest U.S. banks to discuss liquidity and a report that President Donald Trump inquired about firing Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.

“The Trump bubble, which has brought gains in U.S. stocks and the dollar, is collapsing,” said Mitsushige Akino, an executive officer at Ichiyoshi Asset Management Co. in Tokyo. “The more stocks fall, the more investor sentiment gets worse, so there’s more people who need to sell temporarily, such as stop-loss selling.”

Japanese stocks have been caught in a global market rout, spurred by concerns about everything from the U.S.-China trade war to global central banks’ moves to tighten monetary policy. Sentiment has deteriorated in December, with foreign investors offloading billions of dollars in the country’s shares.

For Justin Tang, the head of Asian research at United First Partners in Singapore, 20,000 is an important support level, the breaching of which confirms downside momentum.

“This will be the last bastion of hope for Japanese investors,” Tang said.</s>(Bloomberg) -- Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average tumbled 5 percent into a bear market as the global equity rout continued unabated in the last week of the year, with renewed turmoil in Washington rattling investors.

Tuesday’s selloff took its cue from the S&P 500’s worst-ever trading session before the Christmas holiday. Shares in China, the other major Asian market open on Tuesday, also declined as investors shrugged off a pledge by the government to do more to support companies.

Investors got mixed signals from Washington heading into the resumption of U.S. stock futures trading at 6 p.m. New York time. President Donald Trump said a partial U.S. government shutdown will continue until funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall is secure. He expressed confidence in his Treasury secretary and the Federal Reserve even as he again criticized the central bank for raising rates too quickly.

“The Trump bubble, which has brought gains in U.S. stocks and the dollar, is collapsing,” said Mitsushige Akino, an executive officer at Ichiyoshi Asset Management Co. in Tokyo. “The more stocks fall, the more investor sentiment gets worse, so there’s more people who need to sell temporarily, such as stop-loss selling.”

The tumult in Washington added to the troubles of investors, who have seen equities worldwide tumble on concerns about a slowing U.S. economy, the pace of the Fed’s rate hikes and the ongoing trade war. The S&P 500 plunged almost 3 percent to end at a 20-month low on Monday.

Trump, speaking in Washington on Tuesday, sought to portray the decline in stocks as a positive for investors.

“I have great confidence in our companies,” he told reporters. U.S. firms are “the greatest in the world and they’re doing really well. They have record kinds of numbers. So I think it’s a tremendous opportunity to buy. Really a great opportunity to buy.”

Japanese equities are heading for their worst December on record. The Nikkei 225 fell 5 percent to close at 19,155.74 in Tokyo, with all but two members in the red. The blue-chip stock gauge dropped below 20,000 for the first time since September 2017 and closed 21 percent lower than an Oct. 2 high, joining the broader Topix index in a bear market.

“It’s just like panic selling,” said Nobuhiko Kuramochi, head of investment information at Mizuho Securities Co. in Tokyo. “The equity markets are pricing in concerns over a slowdown in the global economy and a downward revision in corporate earnings in advance. Some investors are reducing their exposure to equities in their portfolio” by increasing cash or bonds.

Read more on how the dollar is exposed to dysfunction and paralysis in Washington

Japan’s benchmark 10-year bond yield slipped to zero percent for the first time since September 2017, while the yen advanced for an eighth day, its longest rising streak since March 2017, as investors sought haven.

Adding to market woes, an emergency margin call was triggered for Japan index futures, according to Japan Securities Clearing Corp.

“Market players on futures need to either reduce their trade volumes or pay emergency margins, which may make it difficult for them to actively trade,” said Hajime Sakai, chief fund manager at Mito Securities Co. Futures contracts on the Nikkei 225 fell below 19,000 as of 3:15 p.m. in Tokyo.

Trump’s latest remarks on the Fed, delivered in front of reporters Tuesday in the Oval Office, focused broadly on the central bank and not Chairman Jerome Powell.

“They’re raising interest rates too fast because they think the economy is so good,” Trump said. “But I think that they will get it pretty soon.”

After Bloomberg reported that Trump had inquired about firing Powell, administration officials including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin sought to tamp down the idea, only to have Trump rattle investors again on Monday with a Twitter rant aimed at the Fed. That blast didn’t name Powell either.

Mnuchin’s failure to restore market confidence with calls to six major U.S. banks, and then an emergency meeting Monday with regulators, rekindled speculation that the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive could become a new target for Trump’s ire.

The president said Tuesday that he has confidence in the “very talented Mnuchin.”

Equities in Shanghai dropped, despite plans by policy makers to improve financing for the private sector and implement tax cuts. PetroChina Co. led the decline after crude plummeted. Israeli stocks advanced Tuesday, bucking the gloom. The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange 35 index gained 2.1 percent, reversing a drop of as much as 2.8 percent and snapping a streak of three straight declines. --With assistance from Toshiro Hasegawa, Kurt Schussler, Matthew Burgess, Tom Redmond, Alyza Sebenius, Abhishek Vishnoi and Edward Dufner. To contact the reporters on this story: Keiko Ujikane in Tokyo at kujikane@bloomberg.net;Tan Hwee Ann in Singapore at hatan@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Divya Balji at dbalji1@bloomberg.net, Daniel Taub, Scott Lanman For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com</s>* Nikkei drops more than 5 pct to lowest since April 2017

TOKYO, Dec 25 (Reuters) - Japan’s Nikkei retreated to a 20-month low on Tuesday after a slide on Wall Street deepened with a series of unnerving U.S. political developments.

The Nikkei share average ended the day down 5.01 percent at 19,155.74 after brushing 19,117.96, its lowest since late April 2017.

The broader Topix closed 4.88 percent lower at 1,415.55 after touching 1,412.90, its weakest since November 2016.

Wall Street stocks extended their steep sell-off on Monday, with the S&P 500 down nearly 15 percent so far this month, as investors were rattled by the U.S. Treasury secretary’s convening of a crisis group and by other political developments.

Many financial markets in Asia, Europe and North America are closed on Tuesday for Christmas Day.

“Negative sentiment has replaced logic, as is often the case during a sell-off. A third of the selling is induced by panic, another third by loss-cutting and the remaining third by speculators trying to make a profit from the market rout,” said Takashi Hiroki, chief strategist at Monex Securities in Tokyo.

“The sell-off is triggered almost entirely by developments in the U.S. markets, rather than by negative factors unique to the domestic market.”

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin called top U.S. bankers on Sunday amid the pullback in stocks and said he was calling a meeting of financial regulators to discuss ways to ensure “normal market operations”.

Wall Street also grappled with the U.S. federal government shutdown and reports that President Donald Trump privately discussed the possibility of firing the Federal Reserve chairman.

Blue chip shares fell across the board, with Toyota Motor Corp falling 5.25 percent, Sony Corp shedding 5.55 percent, Nintendo down 4.3 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group losing 4 percent.

Defensive shares such as consumer staples, healthcare and utilities were unable to withstand the selling pressure.

All of the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s 33 subsectors were in the red, led by precision machinery and pharmaceuticals . (Editing by Edmund Klamann)</s>TOKYO: Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei index closed down more than five per cent on Tuesday (Dec 25) amid rising doubts about the US economy and fears sparked by a US government funding crisis.

The Nikkei 225 index lost 5.01 per cent or 1,010.45 to 19,155.74, the worst finish since April 2017, while the broader Topix index plunged 4.88 per cent or 72.64 points at 1,415.55.

Analysts had warned that the Japanese market would be volatile after steep falls on Wall Street on Monday, and with a higher yen against the dollar weighing on sentiment.

But Makoto Sengoku, market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Institute, admitted surprise at the scale of the rout.

"I didn't expect the market would tumble this much," he told AFP before the close.

"There are no signs of selling running its course or big buyers emerging."

The dollar fetched 110.01 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade, down from 110.43 yen in New York on Monday and 111.38 yen in Asian trade on Friday.

The Tokyo market was closed for a national holiday on Monday when US shares fell sharply with investors unnerved by reports that US President Donald Trump had asked about the possibility of firing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

The dive also came after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's efforts to reassure investors fell flat.

Mnuchin was widely panned by market watchers over a phone call with the six biggest US banks, reporting on Twitter that the six CEOs have "ample liquidity" available.

The move "prompted worries in the market," Toshiyuki Kanayama, senior market analyst at Monex, said in a note.

Automakers were among losers in Tokyo, with Toyota dropping 5.25 per cent to 6,079 yen, Honda down 5.66 per cent at 2,756 yen and Nissan off 5.07 per cent at 838.1 yen at the break.

Sony was down 5.55 per cent at 5,000 yen and Panasonic was down 5.56 per cent at 920 yen.</s>By Marketwatch and Associated Press

Asian markets sink after U.S. stocks drop more than 2%

Japanese stocks plunged Tuesday and other Asian markets declined following heavy Wall Street losses triggered by President Donald Trump's attack on the U.S. central bank.

The Nikkei 225 fell by an unusually wide margin of 5%, hitting its lowest point since May 2017 with a close at 19,155.74. The index is now down just over 21% from highs reached in early October, which meets a widely accepted definition of a bear market. Loses were widespread, with all 33 Tokyo Stock Exchange subsectors posting losses. Fuji Electric dropped over 7%, SoftBank Group was off 7.6%, Fast Retailing fell over 4% and Toyota sank over 5%.

China's Shanghai Composite Index pared losses to close down 0.9%, with the smaller-cap Shenzhen Composite faring the same. Taiwan's benchmark index declined more than 1%.

Markets in Hong Kong, Australia and South Korea were closed for Christmas.

"The sell-off is triggered almost entirely by developments in the U.S. markets, rather than by negative factors unique to the domestic market," Takashi Hiroki, chief strategist at Monex Securities in Tokyo, told CNBC (https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/25/asia-markets-japans-nikkei-hits-20-month-low.html).

Wall Street indexes fell more than 2% on Monday after Trump said on Twitter the Federal Reserve was the U.S. economy's "only problem." Efforts by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to calm investor fears only seemed to make matters worse.

U.S. stocks are track for their worst December since 1931 during the Great Depression.

The market has been roiled by concerns about a slowing global economy, the trade dispute with China and another interest rate increase by the Fed.

Trump's Monday morning tweet heightened fears about the economy being destabilized by a president who wants control over the Fed. Its board members are nominated by the president, but they make decisions independently of the White House. The board's chairman, Jerome Powell, was nominated by Trump last year.

"The only problem our economy has is the Fed," the president said on Twitter. "They don't have a feel for the Market, they don't understand necessary Trade Wars or Strong Dollars or even Democrat Shutdowns over Borders. The Fed is like a powerful golfer who can't score because he has no touch -- he can't putt!"

The S&P 500 index slid 2.7% to 2,351.10. The benchmark index is now down 19.8% from its peak on Sept. 20, close to the 20% drop that would officially mean the end of the longest bull market for stocks in modern history -- a run of nearly 10 years.

On Sunday, Mnuchin made a round of calls to the heads of the six largest U.S. banks, but the move only raised new concerns about the economy.

Most economists expect U.S. economic growth to slow in 2019, not slide into a full-blown recession. But the president has voiced his anger over the Fed's decision to raise its key short-term rate four times in 2018. That is intended to prevent the economy from overheating.</s>Japanese stocks plunged Tuesday and other Asian markets declined following heavy Wall Street losses triggered by President Donald Trump’s attack on the U.S. central bank.

The Nikkei 225 NIK, -5.01% fell by an unusually wide margin of about 5%, hitting its lowest point since May 2017. Loses were widespread, with all 33 Tokyo Stock Exchange subsectors posting losses. Fuji Electric 6504, -7.55% was down 7%, SoftBank Group 9984, -7.58% was off 7%, Fast Retailing 9983, -4.13% fell 4.5% and Toyota 7203, -5.25% sank 5%.

China’s Shanghai Composite Index SHCOMP, -0.87% lost 2.4% while the smaller-cap Shenzhen Composite 399106, -0.85% fell 2.8%. Taiwan’s benchmark index Y9999, -1.17% also declined more than 1%.

Markets in Hong Kong, Australia and South Korea were closed for Christmas.

“The sell-off is triggered almost entirely by developments in the U.S. markets, rather than by negative factors unique to the domestic market,” Takashi Hiroki, chief strategist at Monex Securities in Tokyo, told CNBC.

Wall Street indexes fell more than 2% on Monday after Trump said on Twitter the Federal Reserve was the U.S. economy’s “only problem.” Efforts by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to calm investor fears only seemed to make matters worse.

U.S. stocks are track for their worst December since 1931 during the Great Depression.

Read: Which stock and bond markets close, and when, for Christmas and New Year’s holidays

The market has been roiled by concerns about a slowing global economy, the trade dispute with China and another interest rate increase by the Fed.

Trump’s Monday morning tweet heightened fears about the economy being destabilized by a president who wants control over the Fed. Its board members are nominated by the president, but they make decisions independently of the White House. The board’s chairman, Jerome Powell, was nominated by Trump last year.

“The only problem our economy has is the Fed,” the president said on Twitter. “They don’t have a feel for the Market, they don’t understand necessary Trade Wars or Strong Dollars or even Democrat Shutdowns over Borders. The Fed is like a powerful golfer who can’t score because he has no touch — he can’t putt!”

The S&P 500 index SPX, -2.71% slid 2.7% to 2,351.10. The benchmark index is now down 19.8% from its peak on Sept. 20, close to the 20% drop that would officially mean the end of the longest bull market for stocks in modern history — a run of nearly 10 years.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -2.91% sank 2.9% to 21,792.20. The Nasdaq skidded 2.2% to 6,192.92.

On Sunday, Mnuchin made a round of calls to the heads of the six largest U.S. banks, but the move only raised new concerns about the economy.

Most economists expect U.S. economic growth to slow in 2019, not slide into a full-blown recession. But the president has voiced his anger over the Fed’s decision to raise its key short-term rate four times in 2018. That is intended to prevent the economy from overheating.

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The Nikkei index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange drops 5% to below 20,000, its lowest level since September 2017.