
Japan earthquake
As stated by Reuters:
Japan was hit by a 8.9 magnitude earthquake that triggered a 10-metre tsunami.
Japanese stock futures plunged nearly 5 percent.
The earthquake took place shortly before regular trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange ended, disrupting trade at the very end of the day. Phone lines were down across Tokyo, making it difficult to trade.
Before the quake struck, the Nikkei was down more than 1 percent and JGBs got a boost from the slide in Wall Street shares on Thursday.
The Bank of Japan vowed to ensure financial market stability and liquidity.
Osaka Nikkei stock index futures dropped 4.7 percent to as low as 9,950, the lowest since December 2010, before last trading at 10,010. The cash Nikkei ended down 1.7 percent at 10,254.
“The markets are taking it very badly, but I would wait for a clearer picture to assess how bad it is,” said Tim Condon, chief economist for Asia at ING in Singapore.
The yen dropped to session lows near 83.30 to the dollar before recovering back to 82.95, down only slightly from just before the quake
Traders noted that the yen surged after the 1995 Kobe earthquake due to Japanese repatriation of foreign assets.
Nikkei futures traded in Singapore were at 10,005 after having plunged as far as 9,950.