Tokyo, July 23 (BridgeNews) - The Nikkei 225 Stock Average was pummeled in early trade to below 11,819.70, the lowest close since the Japanese "bubble economy" burst, which was marked on Mar. 13. The benchmark index lost 2.4% as traders became increasingly nervous about earnings prospects for Japanese high technology shares after declines on Wall Street Friday. The Nikkei ended the session down 288.75 points at 11,619.64, slightly higher than the intraday low of 11,602.90.