Overview
- Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell more than ¥1,100 at one point, briefly slipping below ¥50,000 before a morning close at ¥49,783.49.
- The index later pared losses to finish at ¥50,276.37, down ¥607.31 on the day, after sharp selling in semiconductor and AI-linked stocks.
- The yen traded in the low ¥153 per dollar range in Tokyo, quoted around ¥153.18–19 in the morning and ¥153.38–40 by late afternoon.
- Market participants cited private survey reports of widespread U.S. layoffs and uncertainty from a partial U.S. government shutdown as drivers of risk-off positioning.
- In New York trading, dollar/yen hovered near ¥153.40–50 on hopes for progress in shutdown talks, even as some Tokyo traders cited expectations of narrower U.S.–Japan rate differentials.