Investor Anxiety Spikes in Tokyo Equities as Brexit Fears Loom
- ‘Everyone’s scared,’ says Toyo Securities strategist Otsuka
- Short-selling in Tokyo surged to record high on Friday
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Japanese stocks tumbled the most in four months as fears over whether the U.K. will vote to leave the European Union sent investors scrambling for haven assets.
Investor anxiety spiked, with the Nikkei Volatility Index, a measure of market turbulence, jumping the most since the start of February. Bearish wagers in the nation’s shares surged to a record high on Friday, a bet that proved prescient as the Topix index slumped 3.5 percent on Monday, its biggest loss since Feb. 12.