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- <text id=90TT0578>
- <title>
- Mar. 05, 1990: Business Notes:Financial Markets
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1990
- Mar. 05, 1990 Gossip
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- BUSINESS, Page 45
- Business Notes
- FINANCIAL MARKETS
- A Rapid Loss Of Altitude
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p> When Japan's probusiness Liberal Democratic Party confounded
- predictions of a tight race and won a resounding victory in the
- national election early last week, many investors hoped Tokyo's
- financial markets would celebrate. But the champagne corks
- never popped. Instead investors watched in distress as the
- Tokyo stock market suffered one of its biggest declines ever.
- Falling in four of the five daily sessions last week, the
- 225-issue Nikkei index plummeted more than 2,500 points, or
- nearly 7%. Approximately half of the drop occurred on Wednesday
- alone. The Nikkei closed at 35,890.97, the lowest level since
- last October.
- </p>
- <p> The steep fall prompted many investors to suspect that
- Japan's high-flying stock market may finally be headed for a
- major correction. One factor depressing the market is a
- widespread belief that the Bank of Japan will boost interest
- rates to fight inflation, a move that would be likely to slow
- the country's economic growth. The trade talks between the U.S.
- and Japan, which resumed last week, were also a source of
- gloom. Ironically, yet another notable cause of last week's
- volatility is an American export, program trading, which a
- growing number of firms are now practicing on the Tokyo market.
- </p>
-
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
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