Nikkei suffers the largest loss in 3 months

On 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 financial institutions shares, after a decision by the central bank to continue stimulus measures, which affected the expectations of bank profits.

This came in addition to other pressures on banks and technology companies due to a fall in Wall Street overnight.

The Nikkei closed down 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 Thursday’s 17-month high of 2,071.60.

But for the whole week, the Nikkei rose by 0.78 percent, and 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 has accelerated the losses of banks and insurance companies,” said Masahiro Ichikawa, chief analyst at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management. “U.S. stock futures continue to decline, putting additional pressure on the Nikkei.”

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

SoftBank Group fell 6.26 percent, Rakuten Group fell 4.11 percent, and Recruit Holdings fell 3.28 percent.