Reply #2: Nikkei225 -2.68%: profligate profit-taking plumbs precipitous plughole

[EuroObserver]

Nikkei loses nearly 450 points on Wall Street fall, yen's rise
(Kyodo) Tokyo stocks fell almost across the board Wednesday, with the key Nikkei average losing nearly 450 points, discouraged by overnight losses in the U.S. markets and the U.S. dollar's fall to the 117 yen level.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average dropped 448.31 points, or 2.68 percent, to 16,272.68, marking the biggest point loss since Jan. 18, when the Nikkei plunged 464.77 points in the wake of prosecutors' raid on Livedoor Co. for alleged securities law violations.

The Tokyo Stock Price Index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange fell 42.08 points, or 2.46 percent, to 1,671.39.
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Brokers said the Tokyo market was also weighed down by Morgan Stanley's recent recommendation that investors cut holdings in Japanese equities. The firm said in an equity research report that the Japanese stock market, along with emerging markets, is no longer undervalued but rather close to fair value given current fundamentals.

Losses widened in the afternoon due partly to technical trading linked to the fixing of special quotations for settling index options contracts Friday, brokers said.

Declining issues swamped advancing ones 1,520 to 126, with 25 shares ending unchanged.

Trading volume on the TSE's main section came to 2,219.35 million shares against Tuesday's 2,350.78 million shares.

The TSE's Second Section index lost 53.58 points, or 0.99 percent, to 5,359.67 on a volume of 239.76 million shares. In Osaka, the near-term March Nikkei 225 index futures contract dropped 430 points to 16,300.

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