Japanese stocks - particularly banking and tech stocks - were already under pressure following a slump on Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei dropped 1.6% to 28,180.73 as of 0411 GMT, after touching a more than six month high of 28,734.79 in the previous session. Every sector was down, but financials far outpaced the rest with a 3.6% plunge. Of the index's 225 components, 212 fell against 11 that rose and two that were flat. The Topix slumped 1.7% to 2,035.44, retreating from Thursday's 17-month high of 2,071.60. Japan's benchmark 10-year government bond yield dropped to a six week low of 0.445%, retreating from the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) 0.5% ceiling under its yield curve control (YCC) policy. "The drop in the long-term yield caused losses to accelerate at banks, insurers and the like," said Masahiro Ichikawa, chief market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management. "U.S. equity futures keep extending declines, which is another weight on the Nikkei, but I think 28,000 should hold." S&P 500 futures were down 0.78%, following the cash index dropping 1.8% overnight mostly due to nerves after, as a capital raise by SVB Financial Group led to its stock collapsing 60%. Chiba Bank was the Nikkei's biggest decliner, sliding 6.17%. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group lost 5.13%. Among other decliners, Seven & i Holdings plunged 5.5% after announcing more supermarket closures and an exit from its apparel business. Nippon Yusen fell 5.9%, disappointing with a plan to hike its dividend payout ratio. SoftBank Group sank 5.3% and Sony dropped 2.7%. Printers were standout winners, though. Dai Nippon Printing jumped 5.4% after announcing a share buyback. Peer Toppan surged 6.8%. For the week, the Nikkei remained on course for a 0.9% rally, while the Topix was up 0.8%. (Reporting by Kevin Buckland; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Sonia Cheema)
By Kevin Buckland
TOKYO, March 10 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei slumped on
Friday, threatening to snap a five-day winning streak, as
financials tumbled after the central bank's decision to maintain
stimulus settings hurt the outlook for profits.
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