Tokyo stocks extend slide, tumble 2.4% by break

Tokyo stocks resumed their slide Wednesday morning, after an eye-watering 5.4 percent dive the previous day, as fears of a global recession hammer investor confidence.

The blue-chip Nikkei 225 index tumbled another 2.40 percent, or 385.59 points, to 15,699.85 by the lunch break, while the broader Topix index of all first-section shares dropped 2.63 percent, or 34.26 points, to 1,270.07.

Tuesday's loss was the index's steepest fall in percentage terms since June 2013.

"We'll continue to see volatility," Chihiro Ohta, general manager of investment information at SMBC Nikko Securities, told Bloomberg News.

"The market is waiting to see what (Federal Reserve Chair Janet) Yellen will say in her testimony on rate hikes given the situation we're in."

Yellen appears before the US Congress on Wednesday.

Markets will be parsing her commentary for clues on further US rate hikes amid concerns over the creditworthiness of European banks, oil's decline and the strength of the global economy.

US stocks swayed between gains and losses all day on Tuesday as investors took their cues from the Nikkei's hammering and as oil prices dived below $28 a barrel.

"Having a large impact on the drop in equities is this growing concern about the sustainability of the recovery, the state of economic growth in China and, increasingly, the state of growth in the US," Russ Koesterich, global chief investment strategist for New York-based BlackRock, told Bloomberg News.

"People are getting worried about the global recession, worried about growth, which is affecting not only oil and stocks but other risky assets as well."

In forex markets, the dollar fell to 114.61 yen from 115.14 yen Tuesday in New York.

The euro stood at $1.1297 and 129.48 yen compared with $1.1293 and 130.04 yen in US trade.

Asahi Group, parent of Asahi Breweries, fell 7.66 percent to 3,347.0 yen by the mid-day break, after the Nikkei business daily reported it was offering $3.5 billion to purchase two European brands from SABMiller in what would be the biggest-ever overseas acquisition by a Japanese beer company.

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