Japan’s Nikkei index closes lower, posting its biggest weekly ‎decline since June

Japan’s Nikkei index closed lower on Friday, posting its biggest weekly drop since mid-June, and chip-related stocks led Friday’s declines, trailing their counterparts on Wall Street on Thursday.

According to “Reuters”, shipping companies and other economically sensitive stocks also plunged, amid fears that the Federal Reserve (the US Central Bank) and other major central banks will continue their policy of monetary tightening that could lead to a recession.

The Nikkei index ended Friday’s trading down 1.03 percent at 26,235.25 points, bringing its weekly decline to 4.69 percent.

The broader Topix index lost 0.54 percent to close at 1897.94 points, and its weekly decline reached 2.68 percent.

The Nikkei index fell in six of the last seven trading sessions, pressured by a policy adjustment taken by the Bank of Japan on Tuesday and continued concerns about the economic outlook for the United States in particular.

The shares of the two giants of the chip industry, Tokyo Electron and Advantest, were the biggest decliners on the Nikkei index, as they fell 3.69 percent and 4.49 percent, respectively, after the large losses incurred by their counterparts in the United States after the pessimistic expectations of Micron Technology.