The Nikkei average fell sharply. It closed the morning session of trading at 37,405.59 yen (volume estimated at around 0.9 billion 50 million shares), down 1,280.72 yen (= -3.31%) from the previous day.

On the 3rd, the US stock market fell sharply. The Dow average closed at 40,936.93 dollars, down 626.15 dollars (= -1.51%). The Nasdaq closed at 17,136.30, down 577.33 points (= -3.26%). The S&P 500 closed at 5,528.93, down 119.47 points (= -2.12%). This was due to concerns about a hard landing as the August ISM Manufacturing Index fell below expectations, leading to a drop in the market after the opening. The Dow also accelerated profit-taking selling from its all-time high, leading to selling throughout the day. Selling in the semiconductor sector, including Nvidia, also exerted further pressure, leading to significant selling in the Nasdaq and an expansion of the decline towards the end.

Following the significant decline in US stocks and the strengthening of the yen, the Tokyo market opened with a dominant selling sentiment. The Nikkei average fell below the 38,000 yen level and expanded its decline to 37,122.33 yen at one point. The decline in semiconductor stocks was noticeable as the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX Index) fell more than 7% compared to the previous day. Profit-taking on the rise since August 5th led the market, and the trading value in the prime market reached 2.4 trillion yen, marking the first time in a long time to surpass the 2 trillion yen level.

Among the stocks adopted in the Nikkei Average, semiconductor stocks such as Renesas Electronics <6723>, Socionext <6526>, Screen HD <7735>, SUMCO <3436>, Tokyo Electron <8035>, and SoftBank Group <9984> are prominent in their decline. In addition, Furukawa Electric <5801>, Disco <6146>, Fujikura <5803>, TEPCO Holdings <9501>, Mercari <4385>, Recruit HD <6098>, and others fell.

On the other hand, Nitori Holdings <9843>, Aeon <8267>, Kao <4452>, Sapporo HD <2501>, and Meiji Holdings <2269> are among the stocks that benefit from the strengthening yen and have risen. In addition, Bandai Namco HD <7832> and ZOZO <3092> were bought. It should be noted that only 15 stocks in the Nikkei Average rose.

While all industries declined, declines in mining, petroleum and coal products, securities and commodity futures trading, nonferrous metals, and electrical equipment were prominent.

The Nikkei Average VI, which indicates market concerns about the future, temporarily rose to 31.84 points, but the pessimism does not seem to have increased much compared to 70.69 points on August 5. Considering that the upper limit of the current Nikkei Average was heavy, profit-taking sales took precedence. The trading volume in the morning session has expanded to 2.4 trillion yen, indicating that there is also buying activity. Although the market is wary of a sharp decline in the second half of the day like August 5, the outstanding margin buy on August 30 remains at about 4 trillion yen, so there is unlikely to be much selling pressure related to margin trading. Assuming that the afternoon Tokyo market will regain its calm unless there is a further strengthening of the yen, it is expected that the Nikkei Average and TOPIX will slightly narrow their declines by the closing bell.