By Stanley White
TOKYO, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Japanese shares fell 1% on
Thursday, weighed down by the rising death toll from the
coronavirus outbreak in China and fears over its potential
impact on the world's second-largest economy.
The Nikkei share average .N225 was down 0.99% to 23,148.62
by 0150 GMT, after a 0.7% gain in the previous session.
China's death toll from the new flu-like virus rose by 38 to
170 as of end-Wednesday and the number of infected patients
increased by more than 1,700 to 7,711. Japan and other countries are evacuating their citizens from
the central Chinese city Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak
that has spread to at least 15 other countries.
A Chinese government economist estimated 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 In Japan, technology shares led the declines after Screen
Holdings Co Ltd 7735.T fell by its daily limit.
The maker of semiconductor manufacturing equipment slashed
its operating profit forecasts by almost half on Wednesday.
There were 37 advancers on the Nikkei index against 183
decliners.
Screen Holdings fell 19.26%, followed by semiconductor
testing equipment maker Advantest Corp 6857.T , losing 5.78%,
and industrial machinery maker IHI Corp 7013.T , down by 4.47%.
The top percentage gainers were online media company
CyberAgent Inc 4751.T , up 16.1%, followed by electronic
components maker Omron Corp 6645.T , which gained 4.67%, and
industrial materials maker Unitika Ltd 3103.T , up by 3.53%.
Japan Display Inc 6740.T rose 1.41% after the Nikkei
newspaper reported Ichigo Asset Management would inject around
100 billion yen into the company, Responding to the Nikkei report, Japan Display, which has
been scrambling to raise cash, said it aimed to finalise the
funding deal by the end of the month.
The broader Topix index .TOPX fell 0.87% to 1,685.19.
The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's
main board .TOPX was 0.45 billion, compared to the average of
1.1 billion in the past 30 days.