The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average dropped 642.62 from Monday to 26,941.75, as of 2 p.m. local time, while the broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange fell 45.09 points at 1,884.78.
Brokers said volatility on Wall Street overnight about when and how many times this year the Fed will hike its rates caused investors to ditch issues bought in the morning session.
"Tokyo shares plunged after an incredibly volatile day on Wall Street that reflected ballooning worries over the upcoming Fed meeting," Koichi Fujishiro, a senior economist at the Dai-ichi Life Research Institute, was quoted as saying.
Geopolitical concerns also weighed, market strategists here said, as tensions grow between the United States and Russia over Ukraine, following the United States saying it would put its troops on "heightened alert" for a possible deployment due to escalating tensions on the Russia-Ukraine border.
All industry categories retreated, with marine transportation, service and machinery issues comprising those that declined the most.
Latest comments