Toshiba was among the biggest fallers on the Tokyo stock exchange on Monday. Investors processed a message from the Japanese business newspaper Nikkei that the takeover bid for the electronics company by the group led by Japan Industrial Partners may be lower than the expected 2.2 trillion yen.
The share of Toshiba was, therefore, more than 6 percent lower.
Other major Japanese exporters also lost ground on lingering fears that central banks will trigger a global recession by continuing to raise interest rates in the fight against inflation. Car manufacturer Toyota fell 1.5 percent, and technology group Sony lost 0.8 percent. The chip companies Advantest and Tokyo Electron yielded 1.4 and 1.5 percent. The main index in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225, showed another loss and ended 1.1 percent lower. On Friday, the indicator already lost 1.9 percent.
Losses were also incurred in South Korea and Australia. The Kospi in Seoul lost 0.6 percent, and the All Ordinaries in Sydney lost 0.2 percent. Chinese stock markets also fell. The main index in Shanghai fell 1.6 percent, and the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was 0.5 percent lower.
Casino operators in the gambling paradise of Macau were particularly hard hit by concerns about the rapidly rising number of corona cases and the closure of most schools in Shanghai due to the rapid spread of the virus. Previously, these shares benefited from the release of the strict corona policy and optimism about reopening the Chinese economy. As a result, Wynn Macau fell 9 percent in Hong Kong, and MGM China plummeted 14 percent.
Investors also processed the results of the annual economic meeting of the Chinese leaders. In it, they promised, among other things, to stabilize the economy in 2023 and to boost economic growth through domestic consumption. Concrete growth targets are expected to be announced at the meeting in March.