Nikkei Briefly Falls Below 21,000 in 5-Day Sell-Off on Virus Fears

Tokyo, Feb. 28 (Jiji Press)--Rising fears over the global outbreak of the novel coronavirus let Tokyo stocks continue their downward spiral Friday, forcing the benchmark Nikkei average to briefly give up over 1,000 points to sink below 21,000 for the first time in some five and a half months. The Nikkei average of 225 selected issues on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange closed down 805.27 points, or 3.67 pct, at 21,142.96, extending its losing streak to a fifth market day. The key index tumbled 477.96 points Thursday. The TOPIX index of all TSE first-section issues dropped 57.19 points, or 3.65 pct, to end at 1,510.87, after plunging 38.11 points the previous day. Sentiment was battered by U.S. and European sell-offs on Thursday. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average suffered the biggest single-day point drop ever at the closing. Fears ballooned among investors worldwide that the global economy will be forced into stagnation by the raging coronavirus, brokers said. California Governor Gavin Newsom said Thursday his state was monitoring 8,400 people for the virus, after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned of the possibility of a community virus transmission in the wake of the detection of the first coronavirus case from the unknown origin. Reports about the first infections in Denmark, Estonia and other countries also decreased investor appetite, brokers said. With selling unabated in the afternoon, also due to falls in Chinese stocks, the Nikkei average widened its loss to over 1,000 points to slip through the 21,000 threshold for the first time since Sept. 5. "Foreign investors kept throwing stocks away throughout the day," said Chihiro Ota, general manager for investment research and investor services at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. He further pointed out that Tokyo stocks were shunned due also to the China-born coronavirus ravishing South Korea, Japan's nearest neighbor. The South Korean government announced Friday that the number of virus carriers sprung up by 256 to 2,022. The yen's strengthening against the dollar fueled stock selling, brokers said. On the TSE first section, falling issues trounced rising ones 2,122 to 35 while four issues were unchanged. Volume surged to 2,420 million shares from Thursday's 1,811 million shares. Financials, including megabank group Mizuho and insurer Dai-ichi Life, were hit hard by selling on a fall in U.S. long-term interest rates reflecting the popularity of Treasury securities amid the quickly spreading risk-off mood. Job information service firm Recruit Holdings plunged 6.38 pct, as several companies under its wing canceled events in response to the Japanese government's request for canceling or putting off large crowd-drawing events. Other noticeable losers included clothing store chain Fast Retailing and chipmaking equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron. On the other hand, Kusuri No Aoki was among the handful of winners. The drug store operator jumped 2.01 pct, thanks to a 12.2 pct year-on-year rise in its same-store sales in February. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key March contract on the Nikkei average tumbled 770 points to end at 21,080. END