Nikkei suffers largest loss in 3 months pressured by central ‎bank decision

Today, Friday, the Japanese Nikkei index suffered the largest loss in nearly three months, ending a series of gains that lasted for five sessions, under the weight of the decline in stocks of financial institutions, after a decision by the central bank to continue stimulus measures, which affected the expectations of bank profits.

According to Reuters, this came in addition to other pressures on banks and technology companies due to a decline in Wall Street overnight.

The Nikkei closed down by 1.67 percent, recording 28,143.97 points, after touching a peak of more than six months when it reached 28,734.79 points in the previous session.

All sectors declined, but the financial sector outperformed the rest of the sectors, down 4.4 percent

The broader Topix index fell 1.91 percent to 2,031.58 points, retreating from the highest level in 17 months, recorded on Thursday, which reached 2,071.60.

But for the whole week, the Nikkei achieved an increase of 0.78 percent, and the Topix also rose 0.6 percent.

Japanese government bond yields for ten years fell to 0.385 percent, the lowest level since January 24.

“The decline caused an acceleration in the losses of banks and insurance companies … and US stock futures contracts continue to decline, which puts additional pressure on the Nikkei,” said Masahiro Ichikawa, senior analyst at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management.

Banking group Rezona Holdings incurred the biggest loss on the Nikkei, down 7.47 percent, Chiba Bank fell 7.33 percent, and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group fell 6.13 percent.

Soft Bank Group shares fell 6.26 percent, Rakuten Group 4.11 percent, and Recruit Holdings 3.28 percent.