Japan Stocks Pulled Down by U.S. weakening economy

Japan stocks dropped sharply Friday affected by U.S. weakening economy and upward trend of yen currency.

KDDI, one of main Japanese mobile providers, announced a new discount campaign and investors worried that the rival companies might also discount their services. That caused plunging of telecommunication stocks.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average dropped 187.82 points or 1.37 percent to end at 13,500.46.

The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was down 13.35 points, or 1.00 percent, to 1,321.37.

Telecommunications carrier KDDI plunged 73,000 yen, or over 10 percent, to 650,000 yen. NTT DoCoMo, the largest mobile providers, also dropped 8,000 yen or about 5 percent to 158,000 yen.

If NTT DoCoMo joins in the campaign, other rival companies also will have to join in the campaign said Toshikazu Horiuchi, eauity strategist at Cosmo Securities Co. He also mentioned that the telecommunication competition would be fierce from now.

Also Japanese export-oriented companies like Toyota and Sony declined after the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia announced a weaker-than-expected February manufacturing index.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange 1st section trading volume reached 2.4745 trillion yen or 2.09076 billion stocks. Among the 1st section listed stocks, 1,070 stocks declined, 110 unchanged, and 542 increased.