Tokyo share prices plunged more than seven percent Thursday on record volumes as investors rushed to take profit following weak Chinese data and after months of climbing. The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange closed down 7.32 percent, or 1,143.28 points, to 14,483.98, while the Topix index of all first-section issues was down 6.87 percent, or 87.69 points, at 1,188.34. Trading was volatile with volume at a record 7.66 billion shares among first section issues against 6.38 billion yesterday.

TOKYO - Sony's CEO Kazuo Hirai says the electronics giant's board will discuss a proposal by U.S. hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb to spin off up to 20 per cent of its movie, TV and music division. Hirai was asked about the proposal at a corporate strategy presentation Wednesday. He did not give a timetable for a decision, and would not give his own opinion about the suggestion raised by Loeb, who is CEO of hedge fund Third Point LLC. "This will be deliberated by the board and we will come up with a response," Hirai told reporters. "We have only just begun to study this."

Chubu Electric Power Co. plans to found a joint special purpose company with Tokyo Electric Power Co. to build and operate a coal-fired power plant, industry sources said Wednesday. Chubu is expected to shoulder most of the construction cost for the 600,000-kilowatt plant, which may be constructed at TEPCO's Hitachinaka thermal power station in Ibaraki Prefecture by 2019, and sell some of electricity output in the TEPCO service area.

Japan's goods trade deficit expanded to a record 879.9 billion yen for April, marking the 10th straight month of red ink, as the yen's slide continued to push up the cost of fossil fuel imports, while conversely helping exports recover, the government said Wednesday. It is the first time Japan's trade balance has remained in deficit for 10 months since 1979, when the country was hit by the second oil shock, a Finance Ministry official briefing reporters said.