Tokyo shares follow Wall Street lower

Japanese stocks fell sharply on Monday following the biggest fall in US stocks in nearly three years. The Nikkei 225 ended the day down 2.1 per cent to 15,360.65. The Topix fell 2.2 per cent to 1,587.90.

However, the exchange’s capacity proved sufficient to handle a rush of sell orders as investors sought to offload their holdings.

Last Wednesday’s heavy sell-offs across the board — sparked by the investigation into internet service group Livedoor — forced an early shutdown, which dealt a severe blow to the exchange’s reputation.

But by the close of trading on Monday, the number of orders stood at 6.05m – considerably below the day’s limit of 9m. The exchange recorded 2.9m transactions, compared with a daily limit of 5m.

The fall in the US market affected both export-focused sectors and domestic stocks.

The electrical machinery sector – for which the US is a key market – fell 3 per cent. Ibiden, the high-tech manufacturer, slid 5.4 per cent to Y6,000. Toshiba, the electronics conglomerate, fell 4.7 per cent to Y731 after it emerged that the company had won the battle for control of Westinghouse, the US energy group, with a bid of almost $5bn.

Among domestic sectors, retailers were down 3 per cent, with real estate 4.1 per cent lower. Tokyu Land, which staged a spectacular climb late last year, dived 6.9 per cent to Y993. Matsuzakaya, the department store chain, declined 3.3 per cent to Y986. Fellow department store chain Daimaru fell 5.5 per cent to Y1,624.

Livedoor was untraded with sell orders at Y256, down 23.8 per cent on the day, after the TSE placed it on its “disclosure cautioned securities” list – the first step towards delisting. Livedoor’s shares had traded at Y696 before last week’s news of the investigation.

Yamaha Motors, whose headquarters were raided on Monday as it faced criminal charges for illegally selling unmanned helicopters to China, lost 8.1 per cent to Y2,670.

Monex Beans fell a further 4 per cent to Y144,000 despite Friday’s announcement of a record quarterly profit. Analysts remained worried about customer defections following Monex’s decision last week not to accept shares in Livedoor as collateral in margin trading.