The Japanese oil companies went down hard on the Tokyo stock exchange on Wednesday. The new and stricter lockdowns in Europe due to rapidly rising corona infections fueled concerns about the global economic recovery from the corona crisis.
The prospect of longer lockdowns is also depressing oil demand, leading to lower oil prices. The airlines were also hit hard again by fears of a slower recovery in air traffic.
The Nikkei in Tokyo finished 2 percent lower at 28,405.52 points. It was the fourth loss day in a row. Inpex, Japan’s largest oil producer and airline ANA Holdings, lost nearly 6 percent. Tokyo Electron and Screen Holdings won 5 percent and 1.7 percent.
Business newspaper Nikkei reported that the two chip companies would work with the Japanese government on a project to invest in domestic production facilities for the new generation of chips.
Nikon thicknesses more than 6 percent. Investors expect the Japanese manufacturer of optical and electronic equipment to take advantage of the American chipmaker Intel’s plans to ramp up production.
Intel will invest $ 20 billion in, among other things, new factories in the US state of Arizona. The investments should help Intel compete better with Taiwanese TSMC (minus 3 percent) and South Korean Samsung (minus 0.9 percent).
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong dropped 2.2 percent in the meantime. Fosun Pharma, the Chinese partner of pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and BioNTech, fell nearly 5 percent after news that Hong Kong and Macau have temporarily stopped vaccinating Pfizer / BioNTech corona vaccines due to vial defects.
Geely continued the price drop and plummeted 8 percent. The Chinese car manufacturer already had disappointing annual results the day before. The large Chinese internet concern Tencent, which will announce the figures after the closing bell in Hong Kong, fell more than 1 percent.