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Bloomberg News Service
TOKYO — Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average fell to a 15-year low, as investors bet slowing profit growth in the U.S. and an unexpected decline in domestic industrial output signals weakening demand for Japanese goods.
NEC Corp. and Toshiba Corp. fell to their 16-month lows, sending the Nikkei briefly to its lowest since November 1985. Oracle Corp. Japan slumped after Goldman, Sachs & Co. cut profit forecasts for more than 30 U.S. companies, including its parent Oracle Corp.
"Slowing global demand will probably force us to cut profit forecasts for the next fiscal year," said Takashi Miyazaki, a strategist at Partners Asset Management Co., which handles 1 trillion yen ($8.6 billion) in securities. "It’s become more apparent with the production figures that the slowdown in the U.S. economy is hurting Japanese companies."
The Nikkei 225 fell as much as 2.1 percent, to 12,784.17 — its lowest since November 1985 — before closing at 12,883.54. The broader Topix index of all shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s first section slipped 15.18, or 1.2 percent, to 1239.71. The Topix fell as low as 1237.13, the lowest since March 24, 1999.
NEC, the world’s No. 3 chipmaker, fell 63 yen, or 3.2 percent, to 1909.
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