Tokyo Nikkei 225 down 4.24% at 37,047 points (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Tokyo , 04 Sep - Japanese shares closed sharply lower, leading the losses amid weak Asian markets, with the Nikkei down 4.24% at 37,047 points.

Chipmakers weighed as US giant Nvidia suffered yesterday the biggest one-day drop ever, wiping out 279 billion dollars in market cap.

Tokyo Electron sank 8.55% while semiconductor testing equipment supplier Advantest dipped 7.74%.

The safe-haven Japanese yen rallied after US stocks posted yesterday the worst sell-off in almost a month following soft US manufacturing data, weighing on global sentiment.

In August, Japan's purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the services sector was 53.7, unchanged compared with July and below the preliminary reading of 54.0, according to final data released by S&P Global and its partner au Jibun Bank.

The composite output index, a weighted average of services PMI and manufacturing output, rose to 52.9 from 52.5 but was below the preliminary reading of 53.0.

AAA-Ver

(RADIOCOR) 04-09-24 08:39:17 (0159) 5 NNNN