Nikkei plummets as markets re-open

The Bank of Japan has pledged to pump in the region of 100bn into the Japanese economy as the nation wakes up to stock market instability in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that hit the region last week.

Upon closing the value of the Nikkei was down 6.18 per cent. Sony, who like many others has been forced to shut down many of its major operations, was down 9.12 per cent.

There were also falls for Capcom (14.24 per cent), Tecmo Koei (10.7 per cent), Konami (9.9 per cent), Namco Bandai (6.41 per cent), Square Enix (4.53 per cent), Sega (1.32 per cent) and Nintendo (1.14 per cent).

Non-gaming declines included Nissan (9.5 per cent) and Toyota (7.93 per cent). Tokyo Electric Power, which operates the Furushima nuclear power plant, saw a 23.6 per cent share decline.