Sentiments on the Tokyo stock market have been dampened by fears that Japan may slide into a deflationary spiral, allied to another Dow Jones average fall under 10,000.
The latter was apparently due to Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's recent warning against expectations of an early U.S. economic recovery.
Recent Tokyo stock weakness has primarily been caused by mounting speculation that Japan is heading toward an economic crisis in February or March. Such a crisis will prompt the stock market to issue warnings against troubled corporations in the form of deteriorating stock prices, while the Financial Services Agency will deal them a final blow via its "special inspections" of bank loans extended to heavily indebted companies.