Nikkei Average Briefly Dips over 1,500 Points in Morning

Tokyo, Aug. 31 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average briefly lost over 1,500 points to fall below 65,000 on Monday morning, chiefly as semiconductor-related components tracked declines in U.S. tech stocks late last week. At 9:06 a.m., the index of 225 major issues listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Prime section was down 1,573.46 points, or 2.37 pct, from Friday’s close at 64,832.10. Heavyweight stocks related to generative artificial intelligence, such as memory chip maker Kioxia Holdings, chip testing device maker Advantest and tech investor SoftBank Group, came under heavy selling pressure from the outset. Tokyo and U.S. investors were rattled after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh said at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium on Friday that U.S. inflation remained high, fueling expectations of a policy rate hike at the Fed’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting in September. “Expectations that Japanese and U.S. central banks would raise rates in September are weighing on semiconductor stocks,” an official at a bank-affiliated securities brokerage said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]