Japan Shares Slide on Interest Rate Hike Fears

Japanese stocks fell on Friday, reversing most of the gains made in the previous session, as investors became cautious about an interest rate hike after the US and UK central banks took steps to tighten monetary policy, while concerns related to the pivot Omicron weighed on travel-related stocks.

The Nikkei index fell 1.79 percent to close at 28,545.68 points, after rising more than two percent on Thursday. The index rose 0.38 percent this week.

The broader Topix index fell 1.42 percent to 1984.47 points but rose 0.46 percent this week.

Japanese technology shares fell, tracking a sharp decline last night for their counterparts in the US Nasdaq index, and Tokyo Electron was the biggest loser, dropping 3.18 percent.

The share of Daikin Industries, the manufacturer of air conditioners, fell 2.59 percent, and the SoftBank investment group fell by 2.87 percent.

And travel-related stocks were hit after news of the first local case of the Omicron mutant of the Coronavirus was recorded.

The aviation sector index fell 1.26 percent, and the railway’s sector index fell 1.49 percent.