By Stanley White
TOKYO, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Japanese stocks fell on Thursday
with a sharp drop in Taiwan shares accelerating the selloff in
Tokyo, while investors also kept an eye on a World Health
Organization (WHO) meeting related to the coronavirus outbreak.
The Nikkei share average .N225 ended Thursday down 1.72%
at 22,977.75. At one point Japanese stocks touched the lowest
level since Nov. 21.
Losses in Japanese shares accelerated after stocks in Taiwan
.TWII plunged at the open in their first trading session since
the Lunar New Year break.
Taiwan shares ended down 5.75%, the biggest decline since
October 2018, in what could be a preview of how Chinese shares
will react when their financial markets re-open on Feb. 3.
China's death toll from the coronavirus outbreak rose by 38
to 170 as of late Wednesday and the number of infected patients
increased by more than 1,700 to 7,711. The WHO's emergency committee will reconvene behind closed
doors on Thursday to decide whether the new virus from China,
which has spread to more than 15 countries, now constitutes a
global emergency.
A Chinese government economist estimated that the outbreak
could cut China's first-quarter growth by one point to 5% or
lower, while U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said it is
"a significant thing which will have some effects on the Chinese
economy, at least in the short term". MKTS/GLOB "We recently had a run-up in IT-related shares and now
investors are taking profits," said Takashi Hiroki, chief
strategist at Monex Securities in Tokyo.
"The impact of this virus has not been fully priced in."
In Japan, technology shares led the declines after Screen
Holdings Co Ltd 7735.T fell by its daily limit. The
semiconductor manufacturing equipment maker slashed its
operating profit forecasts by almost half on Wednesday.
There were 22 advancers on the Nikkei index against 203
decliners.
Screen Holdings fell 19.26%, followed by semiconductor
testing equipment maker Advantest Corp 6857.T , losing 6.44%,
and industrial machinery maker IHI Corp 7013.T , down by 5.59%.
Internet media company CyberAgent Inc 4751.T gained 15.42%
after upbeat earnings. Unitika Ltd 3103.T which makes
materials used in surgical masks and healthcare goods rose
15.59%, while Kansai Electric Power Co 9503.T rose by 1.32%.
The broader Topix index .TOPX fell 1.48% to 1,674.77.
The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's
main board .TOPX was 1.18 billion, compared to the average of
1.1 billion in the past 30 days.