Nikkei slips
Friday, 24 October 2014
TOKYO, Oct 23 (Reuters): Japanese stocks fell on Thursday as a fall in Wall Street shares and a decline in crude oil prices underscored investor concerns about fragile global growth prospects.
The Nikkei share index lost 0.7 per cent to 15,089.14 by 0100 GMT.
Wall Street shares slid on Wednesday after big gains in the past few days.
Oil prices also fell sharply, pressured by data that showed a second big jump in weekly US crude stockpiles, as well as a rising US dollar and falling equity markets.
US crude futures slipped in Asia on Wednesday to near a two-year low of $79.78 hit last week.
Shares in Japanese trading companies, sensitive to fluctuations in energy prices, sagged in response. Mitsui & Co Ltd lost 1.6 per cent and Marubeni shed 0.5 per cent, while the Tokyo Stock Exchange's grouping of oil and coal shares slumped 1.5 per cent.
Also playing on investor nerves was manufacturing data from China and Europe due later today.