Nikkei Average Briefly Tumbles Over 3,000 Points

Tokyo, July 28 (Jiji Press)–Japanese stocks came under heavy selling pressure on Tuesday morning, with the benchmark Nikkei average briefly losing more than 3,000 points. The index of 225 selected issues listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Prime section finished the morning session at 62,046.46, down 2,884.73 points, or 4.44 pct, from Monday. The Nikkei slumped to as low as 61,927.02 at one point, falling below 62,000 for the first time on an intraday basis since May 21. Stocks related to artificial intelligence and semiconductors were heavily sold after their U.S. peers fell overnight amid growing concerns about the sustainability of massive investment in AI infrastructure, as well as intensifying competition with Chinese rivals, market sources said. Memory chip maker Kioxia Holdings finished the morning down 18.11 pct after hitting a daily limit low. Chip testing device maker Tokyo Electron shed 10.89 pct and chipmaking equipment maker Advantest lost 10.31 pct. “The Tokyo market may be reacting sensitively to negative factors ahead of earnings releases” by a spate of Japanese semiconductor-related companies starting this week, an official at a major brokerage firm said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]