Home ›› 11 Nov 2022 ›› Stock
Tokyo stocks closed lower Thursday after falls on Wall Street as traders digested US election results and crypto upheaval.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 0.98 per cent, or 270.33 points, to 27,446.10, while the broader Topix index ended down 0.66 per cent, or 12.83 points, at 1,936.66.
“Risk-aversion sentiment was seen weighing on the Japanese market,” Resona Bank said in a note, after US shares faced pressure as the Democrats did better than expected in midterm elections, although the US Congress will likely be divided, with Republicans expected to control the House of Representatives.
The Dow fell 2.0 per cent while the Nasdaq lost 2.5 per cent.
Further complicating the global market was a move by Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency platform.
The company said it decided to scrap plans to acquire rival FTX.com a day after disclosing it signed a non-binding letter of intent to buy it.
The near-collapse of FTX has sent bitcoin slumping to a two-year low.
“You can’t deny the growing correlation between bitcoin and risk assets,” said Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management. “The FTX news is having an outsized effect on asset prices,” he said, adding that “all ships were sinking on the crypto tumult.”
Players will turn their focus to US inflation data, due later in the day, to gauge the speed of future rate hikes by the US Fed.
“US growth looks still too strong to bring inflation down,” Tapas Strickland of National Australia Bank said in a note.
