TOKYO, July 6 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stock closed lower for the third consecutive day on Thursday, amid concerns that further U.S. rate hikes might tumble the global economy.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei stock index, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average dropped 565.68 points, or 1.70 percent, from Wednesday to close the day at 32,773.02.
The broader Topix index, meanwhile, lost 28.95 points, or 1.26 percent, to finish at 2,277.08.
The broader market was dragged down by semiconductor issues following Socionext's announcement on Wednesday that major shareholders, including Fujitsu Ltd. and Panasonic Holdings Corp., revealed their plans to sell their shares in overseas markets.
The chip company's stock plummeted by the daily limit of 22.8 percent and the overwhelming number of sell orders caused the stock to remain untraded for the rest of the day.
On the Prime Market, shares in most sectors declined, with machinery and precision instrument sectors leading the losses.
Issues that fell outpaced those that rose by 1,477 to 318, while 40 ended the day unchanged.
The turnover on the fourth trading day of the week came to 3.57 trillion yen (24.79 billion U.S. dollars). ■