May 5, 2011, 8:16 p.m. EDT
Japanese stocks plunge on strong yen, weak oil
By Michael Kitchen
LOS ANGELES
(MarketWatch) -- Japanese stocks plunged in the early minutes of Friday trading, with the market returning from the long Golden Week holiday to find the yen substantially higher and oil down sharply. The benchmark Nikkei Stock Average tumbled 2.1% to 9,796.68, while the Topix fell 1.5% to 852.52. With the dollar moving around the ¥80 mark, blue-chip exporter shares sold off, with Panasonic Corp. down 2.5%, Renesas Electronics Corp. falling 3%, Toyota Motor Corp. dropping 2.3%, and Honda Motor Co. losing 4%. Shares of Sony Corp. gave up 4.3%, as investors priced in a second security breach of the PlayStation network, announced during the holiday. Meanwhile, Nymex crude oil's overnight crash to below the $100 level resulted in Inpex Corp. opening ask-only, and trading house Mitsubishi Corp. plunging 3.1%.
Gold is $1,581/oz today. When it hits $2,000, it will be up 26.5%. Let's see how long that takes. - De 3/11/2013 - ANSWER: 7 Years, 5 Months
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