Japan’s Shares Drop on Tariff Concerns, Chip Sector Weakness
Japanese shares are falling on Friday, with investor sentiment weak due to Donald Trump’s administration moving toward tariffs on automobiles, and semiconductor-related stocks inheriting bearishness toward the sector overnight.
Today is also the ex-dividend date for the fiscal year-end, pushing down share indexes.
Topix Index fell 1.7% to 2,768.67 as of 9:17 a.m. Tokyo time
Nikkei declined 1.6% to 37,211.81
Out of 1,692 stocks in the index, 194 rose and 1,456 fell, while 42 were unchanged.
Also weighing on sentiment was weakness in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Stock Index, or SOX, which dropped for a third session overnight. The yen, meanwhile, is little changed after declining 0.3% against the dollar on Thursday.
“In addition to auto-related stocks, semiconductor-related shares are difficult to buy due to the fall in the Nasdaq Composite Index and SOX,” said Masahiro Ichikawa, chief market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management. In addition, “while a weaker yen is generally a tailwind for exports, it is less of a tailwind than usual in a situation where there is a risk of a decline in sales due to tariffs,” he said.
Source : Bloomberg
