TOKYO - Japanese shares hit a seven-month low Wednesday, shedding 1.96 percent following stock market tumbles in Europe and the United States on fears for the global economy, brokers said.The headline Nikkei index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange lost 188.03 points to 9,382.64.
The Topix index of all first-section shares fell 10.77 points or 1.26 percent to 841.42.
Tokyo stocks fell sharply from the outset on weak US consumer confidence and fears of a slowdown in the Chinese economy, brokers said.
"There are underlying concerns about a double-dip global recession", Tsuyoshi Segawa, equity strategist at Mizuho Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.
On Tuesday, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average closed below the psychologically sensitive 10,000 level.
The Conference Board, a US business research firm, announced that US consumer confidence had tumbled in June after three consecutive monthly rises amid increasing US economic uncertainty and unemployment concerns.
It also revised the April Leading Economic Indicator for China to 0.3 percent from 1.7 percent, adding to the gloomy outlook.
Exporters were lower as safe-haven buying saw the yen maintain current highs versus other major currencies. Sony was off 1.93 percent at ¥2,383, Canon was down 1.91 percent at ¥3,330 and automaker Nissan shed 0.47 percent at 626.
Sporting goods maker Mizuno was down 3.42 percent following Japan's elimination from the World Cup in South Africa Tuesday, giving a cue for profit-taking on the supplier to striker Keisuke Honda, Mizuho Securities said.
Shares in Mizuno have enjoyed strong gains since mid-June after Japan defeated Cameroon and Denmark in the tournament's first round.
The Nikkei business daily reported that sales at major retailers fell 1.6 percent last year, the first fall since the daily began surveying the sector in 1967, sending related shares lower.
Fast Retailing, the operator of Japanese casual clothing chain Uniqlo, was down 3.29 percent to ¥13,520, while department store Takashimaya fell 3.12 percent to ¥714.
Pharmaceutical firm Shionogi bucked the market and surged 7.21 percent to ¥1,843 after a US judge ruled that its patent for AstraZeneca PLC's blockbuster cholesterol drug, Crestor, was valid and enforceable.AstraZeneca and its patent partner Shionogi had sued generic drugmakers to stop them from marketing copies of Crestor in the United States before the patent expires in 2016.
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