Tokyo stocks dive more than 8% on Brexit shock: report

Tokyo stocks went into a hair-raising dive on Brexit fears, plunging more than 8 per cent Friday (Jun 24), as major firms’ shares including Toyota and mobile carrier SoftBank went into freefall.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange dropped as much as 8.30 per cent, or 1,347.79 points, to 14,890.56, while the broader Topix index of all first-section shares shed 8.16 per cent, or 105.91 points, to 1,192.80.

Both indexes later pared some of those losses, with the Nikkei crawling back to be down about seven percent around 12pm (Singapore time).

In forex markets, the yen briefly surged to its highest level against the dollar since November 2013, touching 99.02, as traders flocked to the safe-haven currency.

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