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Nikkei plunges below 9,000

Business Materials 10 October 2008 08:16 (UTC +04:00)

Stocks in Tokyo continued their downward course on Friday, with the Nikkei plunging below the psychologically significant mark of 9,000 points for the first time in more than five years, dpa reported.

A drop in the opening minutes came after US stocks plummeted on Thursday. At mid-morning the benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average plunged 974.12 points, or 10.64 per cent, to 8,183.37.

Earlier, the benchmark Nikkei had fallen 1,042.08 points, or 11.38 per cent, to 8,115.41.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues shed 75.20 points, or 8.31 per cent, to 829.91 in morning trading.

This was a reaction to US stocks plummeting again on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping below 9,000 points for the first time in five years, as a series of US and global efforts to tackle the financial crisis have failed to calm investors.

Both the blue-chip Dow and broader Standard & Poor's 500 tumbled more than 7 per cent. The Dow dropped 678.91 points, or 7.33 per cent, to 8,579.19. The S& P fell 75.02 points, or 7.62 per cent, to 909.92.

On currency markets the dollar traded weaker at 99.02-07 yen, down from Thursday's 5 pm quote of 101.16-18 yen.

The euro was quoted at 1.3558-63 dollars, down from late Thursday's quote of 1.3734-35 dollars, and at 134.27-37 yen, down from 138.94-98 yen.

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