The Tokyo Stock Exchange's losses increased by mid-session on Friday, losing over 3% against a backdrop of increased concern over the spread of the coronavirus and how long the epidemic will last.
The situation is raising fears of a world economic crisis.
The Nikkei flagship index dropped 3.17% to 20,652.55 points, and the expanded Topix index fell by 3.18% to 1,467.58 points.
The Tokyo exchange index was driven down by the strong appreciation of the yen, a safe haven, against the dollar that dropped below the 106 yen mark.
It is the crossing of this symbolic threshold that has "further accelerated sales orders" for securities in Tokyo, Yoshihiro Ito, a strategist at Okasan Online Securities, said in a statement.
Shortly after 12 noon Japanese time (4:00 AM GMT), the dollar effectively fell to 105.89 yen, against 107.31 yen the day before following the closure of the Tokyo exchange, which is a reference point for Japanese investors.
The yen also gained against the euro, which was valued at 118.95 yen, as against 119.50 yen the previous day. The European currency itself made slight progress against the dollar, being valued at $1.1229 as opposed to $1.1206 on Thursday at 8:00 PM GMT.
The Brussels Times
