Japan Market extends losses on Omicron concerns

Japan share market finished lower for second straight session on Monday, 20 December 2021, as risk aversion selloff triggered across the board on tracking the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday. Meanwhile, selloff pressure intensified on concerns about the impact of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, with the fast spreading variant now present in 89 countries.

At closing bell, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average stumbled 607.87 points, or 2.13%, to 27,937.81. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange dropped 42.14 points, or 2.17%, to 1,941.33.

All 33 Topix industry groups ended lower, with bottom performing issues were Securities & Commodities Futures (down 4.7%), Mining (down 4.5%), Rubber Products (down 4.3%), Nonferrous Metals (down 3.9%), Oil & Coal Products (down 3.3%), and Machinery (down 3.2%).

Shares of brokerage house declined, with Online financial group SBI Holdings down 6.7% as an activist investor group sold all of their stake in Shinsei Bank to SBI and demanded SBI to boost Shinsei's value. Shinsei Bank shares also tumbled 8.4%. Shares of SBI's peers slipped with Nomura Holdings losing 6% and Daiwa Securities dropping 4.5%.

CURRENCY NEWS: The Japanese yen traded at 113.40 per dollar, stronger than levels above 114 seen against the greenback last week.

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