12.06.201304:47:48UTC+00Japan stocks plunge on Yen's latest surge

An overnight jump in the yen and solid declines on Wall Street conspired to tumble Japanese stocks lower Wednesday morning, with the Nikkei Stock Average giving up 2.1% to 13,045.25, while the broader Topix missed 2.4%. With the dollar trading just above ¥96 after sitting above ¥98 most of the previous day, Japanese exporters came under pressure. Sharp Corp. relinquished 4%, Renesas Electronics Corp. traded 5.3% lower, Toyota Motor Corp. surrendered 3.2%, and Mazda Motor Corp. pulled back 4.8%. A triple-digit loss for the Dow industrials and 1% fall for the S&P 500 helped weigh on financials as well. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. slumped 2.6%, Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co. traded 3.3% lesser, and Resona Holdings Inc. backslidden 3%. Softbank Corp. outperformed with a mere 0.4% loss on continued strength after it sweetened its bid for U.S. carrier Sprint Nextel Corp.. Rival wireless provider KDDI Corp. inched 0.1% higher after Barclays raised its rating on the stock to overweight.