Tokyo — Japan's Nikkei slumped to a 20-month low on Tuesday after a deepening slide on Wall Street heightened investors' aversion to risk. The Nikkei share average ended the day down 5.01 percent at 19,155.74 after brushing 19,117.96, its lowest since late April 2017. The broader Topix closed 4.88% lower at 1,415.55 after touching 1,412.90, its weakest since November 2016. Wall Street stocks extended their steep sell-off on Monday, with the S&P 500 dropping nearly 15% so far this month, as investors were rattled by the US Treasury secretary's convening of a crisis group and by other political developments. Many of the financial markets in Asia, Europe and North America are closed on Tuesday for Christmas Day. "Negative sentiment has replaced logic, as is often the case during a sell-off. A third of the selling is induced by panic, another third by loss-cutting and the remaining third by speculators trying to make a profit from the market rout," said Takashi Hiroki, chief strategist...
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