Japanese Stocks Fall on Yen; Nikkei 225 Trades Near Bear Market

Japanese stocks fell, dragging the Nikkei 225 Stock Average briefly into a bear market, as the yen trading near a 15-year high against the dollar threatened to dent export earnings.

Nintendo Co. and Sony Corp., which both get more than 70 percent of their sales abroad, sank more than 1.5 percent as concern over the U.S. economic recovery raised demand for the yen as a haven. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Japan’s biggest publicly traded bank, lost 1.4 percent. The government said today it will survey companies about the effects of the yen’s strength after the currency advanced to 84.73 late yesterday in Tokyo, the strongest level since July 1995.