Tokyo stocks ends with biggest loss, worse than 1987 “Black Monday”

Tokyo stocks plummeted on Monday, with a key index ending with the record plunge amid concern over US recession and the yen's strength. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) fell 4,451.28 points, or 12.40 percent, from Friday to 31,458.42, finishing with the biggest single-day point loss and breaching the previous record in the "Black Monday" crash in 1987, when it lost 3,836 points. The broader Tokyo Stock Price Index, which includes all shares on the market's First Section on the TSE, also shed 310.45 points, or 12.23 percent, to 2,227.15. Tokyo shares have been declining since Thursday, a day after the Bank of Japan raised its policy interest rate to around 0.25 percent from the previous range of around zero to 0.1 percent. Stocks fell across the board on Monday as weaker-than-expected US jobs data released Friday stoked fears that the world's largest economy is slowing, public broadcaster NHK said. The yen's appreciation added to the downward pressure, as the Japane se currency strengthened to a seven-month high, briefly reaching the upper JPY 142-yen level against the dollar. The prospect of a narrowing interest-rate gap between Japan and the US is prompting investors to sell the dollar and buy the yen. Source: Kuwait News Agency