Japan's Nikkei 225 index plunges 12.4% as world markets tremble over risks to the U.S. economy

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index plunged 12.4 per cent on Monday, resuming sell-offs that are shaking world markets as investors fret over the state of the U.S. economy.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index plunged 12.4 per cent on Monday, resuming sell-offs that are shaking world markets as investors fret over the state of the U.S. economy.

The Nikkei closed down 4,451.28 points at 31,458.42. The market's broader TOPIX index fell 12.8 per cent as selling picked up in the afternoon.

Darkening the outlook for trading on Wall Street, early Monday the future for the S&P 500 was 2.4 per cent lower and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2.6 per cent.

A report showing hiring by U.S. employers slowed last month by much more than expected has convulsed financial markets, vanquishing the euphoria that had taken the Nikkei to all-times highs of over 42,000 in recent weeks.

The Nikkei 225 dropped 5.8 per cent on Friday, making this its worst two-day decline ever. Its worst single-day rout was a plunge of 3,836 points, or 14.9 per cent, on Oct. 20, 1987, a day that was dubbed "Black Monday." This Monday was gloomy enough: at one point, the benchmark sank as much as 13.4 per cent.

Share prices have fallen in Tokyo since the Bank of Japan raised its benchmark interest rate on Wednesday. The Nikkei is now down 3.8 per cent from a year ago.

One factor driving the BOJ to raise rates was prolonged weakness in the Japanese yen, which has pushed inflation to above the central bank's 2 per cent inflation target. Early Monday, the dollar was trading at 142.59 yen, down from 146.45 late Friday and sharply below its level of over 160 yen a few weeks ago.