Japanese stocks dropped sharply Friday morning with export-linked issues dragged down by the yen's rise as the European Central Bank (ECB) put off hoped-for action to cope with the eurozone debt crisis, dpa reported. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 139.98 points, or 1.62 per cent, to trade at 8,513.2 at the end of the morning session at 11:30 am (0230 GMT). The broader-based Topix index was down 12.8 points, or 1.75 per cent, at 720.18. Exporters dropped as the yen climbed against major currencies. A stronger yen makes Japanese goods more expensive overseas and hurts repatriated revenues. Panasonic Corp lost 5.21 per cent, Nissan Motor Co declined 2.27 per cent and Honda Motor Co was down 0.21 per cent. Japanese shares followed markets worldwide, which were disappointed when the ECB said Thursday that any restarting of its bond-buying programme would be delayed at least until other mechanisms were up and running. Europe-exposed exporters fell sharply. Ricoh Co dropped 5.06 per cent, Seiko Epson Corp lost 5.05 per cent, Konica Minolta Holdings Inc shed 4.43 per cent, Fujitsu Ltd declined 3.23 per cent and Canon Inc was down 0.85 per cent. Sharp Corp plunged 29.59 per cent after the company Thursday posted a net loss of 138.4 billion yen (1.76 billion dollars) in the April-to-June quarter and expanded its net loss forecast for the current fiscal year through March to 250 billion yen from 30 billion yen it had predicted in May. Sharp said it would also cut about 5,000 jobs globally, or 9 per cent of its workforce, by the end of March, mainly through early retirements, to turn its business around. The Tokyo Stock Exchange said Friday it had approved the relisting of the shares of Japan Airlines Co (JAL) on September 19. JAL went bankrupt in January 2010 and was subsequently delisted from the bourse. The carrier had declared liabilities of 2.32 trillion yen (29.7 billion dollars). On currency markets at 11:30 am in Tokyo, the dollar traded at 78.12-16 yen, down from Thursday's 5 pm quote of 78.46-47 yen. The euro quoted at 95.09-14 yen, down from 96.22-26 yen late Thursday, and at 1.2169-2172 dollars, down from 1.2263-2264 dollars.
