Tokyo stocks fell Wednesday morning after a U.S. central bank decision to raise benchmark interest rates sent shares down on Wall Street. The dollar was higher against the Japanese yen and euro.
The Nikkei Stock Average of 225 selected issues lost 129.84 points, or 1.1 percent, to 11,712.13 points in the morning session. The index fell 37.84 points, or 0.32 percent, on Tuesday.
The dollar was trading at 105.46 yen at 11 a.m. Wednesday, up 0.53 yen from late Tuesday in Tokyo but below the 105.63 yen it bought in New York later that day.
Japanese stocks fell in reaction to U.S. stock declines after the U.S. Federal Reserve Open Market Committee confirmed that inflation poses an increasing threat to the U.S. economy and raised short-term benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 2.75 percent.
The move prompted stock players to pull funds from the U.S. market, sending Wall Street lower.
In Tokyo, banks and technology issues led the decline. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, UFJ Holdings and Advantest Corp. were among the morning's losers.
In Tokyo Wednesday, the broader TOPIX, which includes all issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's first section, fell 12.60 points, or 1.05 percent, to 1,189.92 points. The TOPIX lost 0.74 point, or 0.06 percent, the day before.
In currencies, the dollar continued to gain against the yen and the euro after rising across the board in New York on Tuesday after the Fed lifted rates.
The euro fell to $1.3083 Wednesday morning in Tokyo from $1.3180 late Tuesday and to 137.97 yen from 138.49 yen.