TOKYO (AP) -- Tokyo stocks plunged early Tuesday following Wall Street's drop. The dollar was lower against the yen.
The Nikkei Stock Average of 225 selected issues lost 90.59 points, or 1.03 percent, to end morning trading at 8,732.14. On Monday, the index gained 36.86 points, or 0.42 percent, closing at 8,822.73, its highest this year.
The dollar was trading at 118.16 yen at 11 a.m., down 0.34 yen from late Monday, but above the 118.04 yen it bought late in New York.
On the stock market, players sold technology and banking issues as they took their cue from Wall Street's losses Monday, traders said.
Electronics giants Sony, Matsushita and NEC, automakers Toyota, Honda and Nissan, and major banks Mizuho, Sumitomo Mitsui and UFJ were all losers Tuesday morning.
New York stocks fell sharply Monday as investors, wary of the pace of recent price increases, cashed in some of their profits.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 82.79, or 0.9 percent, at 8,980.00. The broader the Nasdaq composite index fell 23.45, or 1.4 percent, to 1,603.97.
Locally, the broader Tokyo Stock Price Index was down 9.06 points, or 1.04 percent, at 865.30 at late morning. The TOPIX, which includes more than 1,000 of Japan's largest companies, rose 4.75 points, or 0.55 percent, the day before.
In currencies, the dollar slipped against the yen despite remarks by President Bush in Washington on Monday reaffirming the U.S. commitment to a strong dollar and blaming interest rate gaps for the greenback's weakness.
The euro, meanwhile, stood at $1.1722, down slightly from $1.1736 late Monday in Tokyo. Against the yen, the euro was lower at 138.70 yen from 138.86 yen.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year bond fell to 0.4800 percent from 0.4950 percent late Monday. Its price rose 0.15 to 100.19 points. /www.fxserver.com/