Japan’s Nikkei closes near 3-month low, hit by recession fears

Japan’s Nikkei index ended trading on Wednesday near its lowest level in three months, as mounting fears of a global recession weighed on Wall Street on Tuesday evening and a media report that Apple Inc. abandoned plans to produce more iPhone phones, dented sentiment.

The Nikkei fell 1.5 percent to close at 26,173.98 points, after hitting its lowest level since July 1, at 25,938.36 points earlier in the session.

The index had started lower and witnessed a further decline after a Bloomberg Agency report said that Apple would abandon a plan to increase production of its new smartphones due to the absence of indications of the expected increase in demand.

The broader Topix index fell 0.95% to 1,855.15 points.

The pharmaceutical sector index was the only one that recorded an increase among all sectors, increasing by 0.35 percent.

eSai’s stock jumped 17.29 percent after the company announced the success of its experimental Alzheimer’s drug trials.

Its rival, Shionji, rose 1.08 percent.

The real estate sector was the most declining, with its index down 2.78 percent.

Shares of Fast Retailing, which owns supermarket chain Uniqlo, recorded the biggest decline on the Nikkei index, down 4.23 percent, followed by robotics maker Fanuc, which fell 2.89 percent, SoftBank Investment Group shares, which fell 1.83 percent, and Tokyo Electron, which fell 1.38 percent.