Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei index closed down more than two percent on Tuesday over global worries about inflation and the Chinese economy.

The Nikkei 225 dropped 2.19 percent to end at 27,822.12, having shed as much as 3.46 percent in the morning before paring losses, while the broader Topix index closed 1.33 percent, or 26.17 points, lower at 1,947.75.

The dollar slightly firmed to 111.12 yen in Asian trade from 110.93 yen in New York on Monday.

Global investors remain concerned about a tense political debate in Washington over raising the US debt ceiling, as well as the financial crisis at Chinese property giant Evergrande, which drove down Wall Street shares.

“On the back of the falls in US shares and worries about the outlook of the Chinese economy, selling of futures led” the Nikkei downwards in the morning, Okasan Online Securities said.

Surging energy prices were fuelling fears of inflation, according to analysts.

“The global energy crisis” was “arguably today’s main source of broader stock market weakness,” Ray Attrill of National Australia Bank said in a note.

“Negative cues are appearing one after another,” Chihiro Ota at SMBC Nikko Securities told AFP.

“US shares are turning weaker as the market expects rate increases… Investor sentiment was stronger, but it is now weakening,” he said.

In Tokyo trading, Uniqlo casual wear operator Fast Retailing plummeted 6.92 percent to 72,850 yen while SoftBank Group tumbled 3.81 percent to 6,027 yen.

Automakers were lower with Nissan falling 0.96 percent to 552.3 yen and Toyota losing 1.55 percent to 1,902 yen.
Sony shrank 1.54 percent to 11,785 yen.

Oil companies were higher, however, with Inpex soaring 5.59 percent to 943 yen and Idemitsu Kosan gaining 3.69 percent to 3,060 yen.

AFP