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| - Tokyo stocks opened down more than three percent on Monday on fears over the new coronavirus and a plunge in oil prices that sent the dollar down against the yen. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index dropped 3.41 percent or 707.92 points to 20,041.83 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was down 3.24 percent or 47.63 points at 1,423.83. The Nikkei continued to sink, down around 4.3 percent by 1230 GMT. "The yen surged... at the market open this week as investors dove into safe havens on accelerating COVID-19 cases in Europe, and as Saudi Arabia triggers a price war for oil, adding another level of unwanted panic to a market already thick with fear," Stephen Innes, chief market strategist at AxiCo, said in a note. Concurring with Innes, Marito Ueda, senior trader at FX Prime, told AFP: "Fears over the virus's impact on the global economy and plummeting in the US yields had investors seek the safe haven yen." "It is essentially flight from the dollar," he added. The dollar fetched 104.01 yen in early Tokyo time, after dipping to around 103.83 yen in Sydney time, the lowest level since November 2016. That compares with 105.40 yen in New York late Friday. The plunges came after Saudi Arabia slashed oil prices in response to a failure by OPEC and its allies to clinch a deal on production cuts -- a move characterised by some analysts as an all-out war. The ASX 200 was down 5.4 percent in early trade, with energy firms Oil Search and Santos down 25 percent each. "Tokyo shares are seen dropping amid risk-off sentiment in the global financial market," Mizuho Securities said in a commentary. In Tokyo, exporters were particularly lower, with Nissan down 5.80 percent at 399.5 yen, Toyota down 3.90 percent at 6,529 yen and Sony down 4.80 percent at 6,382 yen. Banks also plunged, with Sumitomo Mitsui Financial trading down 4.80 percent at 4.21 percent at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial down 5.00 percent at 462.9 yen. On Wall Street, the Dow ended down 1.0 percent at 25,864.78. kh/sah/je
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