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10 Eylül 2007 Pazartesi

Nikkei plunges on economy fears


Japanese investor confidence is not running highJapan's main share index has fallen sharply, hit by fears about the state of both the Japanese and US economies.

Data on Monday showing a 1.2% slowdown in the Japanese economy in the three months to 30 June, came after Friday's shock fall in US employment.

The gloomy figures caused Japan's main Nikkei 225 index to end down 2.2% or 357 points at 15,765.

Europe's share indexes were mixed in Monday afternoon trade, with London's FTSE up while Germany's Dax was down.

The FTSE 100 was up five points to 6,196, while the Dax had lost 12 points to 7,425.

'Bad news'

Japan's biggest exporters led the declines in Tokyo, as the dollar fell to a fresh 14-month low against the yen.

Sony's shares lost 6%, Canon declined 3.7%, and Toyota slid 2.4%, but analysts said falls were seen by firms in all sectors of the economy.

"Stocks are being sold across the board," said Yoshinori Nagano, chief strategist at Daiwa Asset Management.

"US employment data is bad news on fundamentals, and it's unclear how long negative market sentiment will linger."

Japan's second quarter 1.2% fall in gross domestic product, compared with a year earlier, was worse than market expectations of a 0.9% dip.

It was also the first time Japan's economy has contracted since the third quarter of last year, when it fell 0.5% in annual terms.

The Nikkei's Monday falls were mirrored elsewhere in the Far East, with Hong Kong's main Hang Seng index down 128 points to 23,854.

Raised Intel outlook boosts stock


The world's biggest chipmaker Intel says stronger-than-expected demand means it will beat its earlier forecasts for three month revenues.
Intel is seen as a gauge for the whole of the technology sector so this news may boost the rest of the Nasdaq.


Intel shares rose 2.5% to $26.11 in early trading following the news.

The company expects revenue for the three months to the end of September to be between $9.4bn (£4.6bn) and $9.8bn (£4.8bn), up from $9.0bn to $9.6bn.

Intel also says that its gross margin will be in the upper half of the previous range of "52% plus or minus a couple of points". ,

New chips

It has been a good day for chipmakers with Intel's rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) unveiling its much-hyped new server chip.

It is AMD's first "quad-core" chip, which features four processors on a single chip.

The product launch is a key part of AMD's attempts to compete with Intel, which has a market value 21 times bigger than AMD.

AMD shares rose 2% in early trading.