Japan $314 Billion Rout Tests Topix Bulls Who Pushed Gain
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The biggest drop in Japanese shares since the 2011 earthquake erased $314 billion in market value, shaking bulls who pushed the Topix Index to five-year highs and highlighting their vulnerability to shocks at home and abroad.
This year’s best performing major equity gauge plunged 6.9 percent in record volume yesterday after government bond yields rose to the highest levels in a year and Chinese manufacturing missed estimates. The slide triggered a halt in Osaka-traded index futures and cut the measure’s 2013 advance to 38 percent from 48 percent. Gains for the Topix, which rose 0.5 percent today with an intraday range of 6.5 percentage points, remain more than twice as big as in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index this year.