Japan’s Nikkei logs biggest monthly fall in two years
A man looks at an electronic board displaying share prices outside a brokerage in Tokyo on May 31, 2012. Asian shares, the euro and oil prices fell as surging borrowing costs in troubled Spain heightened fears that more countries in the euro zone will be hit hard by the region’s debt crisis. — Reuters picTOKYO, May 31 — Japan’s Nikkei share average shed 1.1 per cent today, closing out its worst monthly fall in two years as investors cut exposure to risky assets on deepening concerns over Spain and its banking sector, with exporters taking a beating
The Nikkei dropped 90.46 points to 8,542.73, cutting earlier losses as traders suspected the Bank of Japan was buying exchange-traded funds in the afternoon to support the market.
Still, the benchmark hit a 4½-month closing low and was down 10.3 per cent in May, its biggest one-month fall since May 2010, when it lost 11.7 per cent.
The broader Topix fell 0.6 per cent to 719.49. The index is down 0.4 per cent this week, and if it were to end the week lower, it would mark its worst weekly losing run since 1975. — Reuters
