Japan's Nikkei stock index falls over 3% on weak tech shares
The Nikkei stock index dropped over 3 percent Tuesday afternoon, as heavyweight technology issues were sold following losses on Wall Street amid anxiety about the U.S. economic outlook, Kyodo reports.
At 1:19 p.m., the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average was down 1,570 points, or 3.12 percent, from Monday at 48,753.27.
The Tokyo market was hit by selling of heavyweights SoftBank Group and Tokyo Electron.
Semiconductor-linked shares also dragged down the Nikkei index, tracking overnight declines in their U.S. counterparts and amid profit-taking ahead of U.S. chip giant Nvidia Corp.'s earnings announcement slated for Wednesday.
On the currency market, the yen briefly moved around the 180 line against the euro, after reaching in New York overnight its weakest level since the single European currency was introduced in 1999.
