The biggest daily percentage fall since late 2008 – and to the lowest level since April 2009 – completed the trading session the Japanese index Nikkei as it declined by 1,015 points or 10.55%. Intraday, the index found even 14% lower, a decline which followed yesterday’s losses of 6.18%. The broader index Topix closed the trading lower by 9.47%, while yesterday had fallen by 7.49%.
Cumulative the past two days, these losses are the worst in the history of the Japanese market. The sell-off in Tokyo stock exchange market occurred after the new explosion in the nuclear reactor No. 2 of the Fukushima Daiichi. Explosions in reactors No. 1 and No. 3 had proceeded while fire broke out in Reactor No. 4.
Even more pressure applied on stocks and indices after the statement of the authorities for a serious radioactive leak, which led the Japanese prime minister’s office to inform through SMS all the citizens residing within 30 km from the nuclear plant to stay inside their homes. The zone up to 20 km had been evacuated by Saturday, while a no-fly zone of 30 km around the power station has decided by the Minister of Transport of Japan.
The shares that suffered the biggest losses were Toshiba Corp. (-19.5%), Hitachi Ltd.(-12.6%), Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd. (-15.9%) and Aiful Corp. (-18.4%). New limit down of -25% for the share of TEPCO.
Only today (Tuesday), the Tokyo Stock Exchange lost 364 billion U.S. dollars in market capitalization, while since Friday 660 billion dollars “evaporated”. The TSE is the largest of the six major stock markets of Japan. Combined they have lost by Friday 704 billion U.S. dollars in capitalization.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined by 3.27%, while China’s Shanghai Composite lost 1.92%, the Shenzhen Composite declined by 1.83% and the CSI 300 lost 2.34%.
Significant losses of 3.35% for the Taiex in Taiwan, South Korea’s Kospi declined by 2.40% while the Australian S&P / ASX 200 declined by 2.11%.
Losses over 3% for the Sensex index in India, by 2.47% declined the Straits Times in Singapore while all the key indices in New Zealand , Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam are negative.
The cost of the Japanese five-year CDS surged to record levels. The five-year contracts increased by 27 basis points to 125 basis points, according to UBS. This is the highest level for Japanese CDS since 2004.
