Tokyo stocks lost more than two percent Monday morning following sharp falls on Wall Street last week, as investors continued searching for the market's bottom. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which was down more than five percent last week, lost 2.17 percent, or 298.90 points, to 13,475.64 by the break, while the Topix index of all first-section shares declined 1.64 percent, or 18.60 points, to 1,117.18. si/pb/jms

Tokyo stocks lost more than two percent Monday morning following sharp falls on Wall Street last week, as investors continued searching for the market's bottom. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which was down more than five percent last week, lost 2.17 percent, or 298.90 points, to 13,475.64 by the break, while the Topix index of all first-section shares declined 1.64 percent, or 18.60 points, to 1,117.18. "A major factor behind today's big decline was Friday's fall on Wall Street," Kenzaburo Suwa, strategist with Okasan Securities, told AFP.

Tokyo stocks rose 1.37 percent on Friday, as a weakening yen helped the benchmark index rebound from the previous day's plunge of more than five percent. The headline Nikkei 225 index added 185.51 points to 13,774.54, while the Topix index of all first-section shares edged 0.12 percent, or 1.36 points, higher to 1,135.78. The drop Thursday followed a week of wild volatility on the Tokyo market which included a jaw-dropping plunge of 7.3 percent, the worst single-day fall since Japan's 2011 quake-tsunami disaster.

Tokyo stocks were 1.62 percent higher on Friday morning, as a weakening yen helped the benchmark index rebound from the previous day's plunge of more than five percent. The Nikkei 225 added 219.69 points to 13,808.72 by the break, while the Topix index of all first-section shares climbed 0.62 percent, or 7.02 points, to 1,141.44. Thursday's drop put both the Nikkei and Topix at their respective 50-day moving averages, analysts noted.