Tokyo, Oct. 30 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average briefly plunged more than 1,900 points Friday morning, dragged down by renewed selling of artificial intelligence-related shares. The index of 225 major issues listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Prime section finished morning trading down 1,639.69 points, or 2.54 pct, from Thursday’s close at 63,019.78. Market players were spooked by an overnight sell-off on the U.S. market, where investors had resurgent concerns about returns on AI-linked investments after Google parent Alphabet Inc. reported a negative free cash flow. “Amazon.com Inc., which announced its earnings after U.S. trading closed Thursday, is being sold in off-hours trading after also reporting a negative cash flow,” an official at a major brokerage house said. “Intel Corp. is also being sold in off-hours trading after reporting its earnings, and the Tokyo market is also seeing selling in bearish sentiment.” In the morning session, chipmaker Kioxia, semiconductor test device maker Advantest and tech investor SoftBank Group retreated 8.31 pct, 7.02 pct and 6.19 pct, respectively. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
