Investor worries about the US economy helped send the Tokyo equities markets significantly lower on Monday. The Nikkei 225 was 2.3 percent lower to 15,725.94, while the Topix index fell 2.5 percent to 1,533.94. The Mothers index of small and mid-cap stocks declined even further, dropping 6.2 percent to 1,022.54. Another possible reason for the declines were remarks from the head of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, who said that share price declines recently are due to an upcoming end to tax breaks on Japanese shares.
Export-focused sectors were lower in the face of bad economic news from the United States, including a drop in housing starts in October. In the automobile manufacturing sector, Honda Motor was 2.6 percent lower to ¥4,100. In the semiconductors sector, Advantest fell 4.1 percent to ¥5,870. Among electronics companies, Sanyo Electric dropped 12.7 percent to ¥179 on rumors that it could see a losing full-year report.
With crude oil prices still dropping, Inpex Holdings was 3.4 percent lower to ¥902,000.
The banking sector saw losses on concerns that lending might have slowed down. Mitsubishi UFJ fell 2.8 percent to ¥1,380,000, while Mizuho Financial was 3.1 percent lower to ¥823,000.