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Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index soars more than 10% after plunging a day earlier

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Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index soars more than 10% after plunging a day earlier
News

News

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index soars more than 10% after plunging a day earlier

2024-08-06 15:19 Last Updated At:15:20

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 share index soared as much as 10.7% early Tuesday, a day after it plunged the most in 37 years.

The index gave up some of those gains as it wavered throughout the day but closed 10.2% higher at 34,675.46. Other Asian markets also were higher after sharp losses on Wall Street that were dramatic but not on the same scale as Monday’s 12.4% nosedive in Tokyo.

Many shares rose by double-digit percentages similar to their losses a day before, with automaker Toyota Motor Corp. rocketed 12.8%.

Computer chip maker Tokyo Electron jumped 16.6%, Honda Motor Co. advanced 14.7% and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group was up 5.8%.

The losses of the past several sessions followed a move by the Bank of Japan last week to raise its main interest rate from nearly zero. Such a move helps boost the value of the Japanese yen, but it also led traders to scramble out of deals where they had borrowed money for virtually no cost in Japan and invested it elsewhere around the world.

Officials from Japan's Finance Ministry, Financial Service Agency and the Bank of Japan met Tuesday to address the recent market gyrations.

Atsushi Mimura, a top ministry bureaucrat, declined to comment directly on the specifics of the market, as is government policy. But he noted that market experts were saying recent volatility reflects various global developments, and markets are going up and down elsewhere as well.

He cited geopolitical risks like rising tensions in the Middle East and recent economic data. He also pointed to increases in wages and investment in Japan.

“We maintain the view that the Japanese economy is gradually recovering, going forward,” he told reporters.

The government officials and the central bank reconfirmed their agreement to watch internal and external fiscal situation, and work together “as one,” said Mimura, vice finance minister for international affairs.

When asked, Mimura declined to comment on whether the recent BOJ rate hike had triggered the market's movements. He said the government was closely watching the foreign exchange rates and aiming for stability as always.

Various factors combined to cause Monday's carnage, according to Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management, likening Tuesday's bounce to a “lifeboat.”

“As always with the market, take this to heart: Yesterday’s misery often turns into today’s punchline. The swift twists and turns of trading can transform what seemed like a dire situation into a fleeting memory, one that’s often laughed about in trading rooms the next day,” he said.

The Nikkei is now up 7.7% from a year ago, but more than 9% below its level three months ago. Its biggest ever percentage gain was 14.2% in October 2008.

FILE - People pass the New York Stock Exchange on July 30, 2024 in New York. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index has lost 12.4% on Monday, August 5, 2024, in the latest bout of sell-offs that are jolting world markets. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)

FILE - People pass the New York Stock Exchange on July 30, 2024 in New York. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index has lost 12.4% on Monday, August 5, 2024, in the latest bout of sell-offs that are jolting world markets. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index soars more than 10% after plunging a day earlier

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index soars more than 10% after plunging a day earlier

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index soars more than 10% after plunging a day earlier

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index soars more than 10% after plunging a day earlier

A monitor shows the Nikkei 225 stock index in Tokyo, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, indicating at one point, over 2,537 points of lowering. (Shohei Miyano/Kyodo News via AP)

A monitor shows the Nikkei 225 stock index in Tokyo, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, indicating at one point, over 2,537 points of lowering. (Shohei Miyano/Kyodo News via AP)

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Teen pleads guilty in fatal stabbings at Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England

2025-01-20 21:20 Last Updated At:21:33

LONDON (AP) — A British teen pleaded guilty Monday to murdering three girls and attempting to kill 10 other people in a stabbing rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England last summer.

Axel Rudakubana, 18, entered the surprise plea at the start of his trial at Liverpool Crown Court.

He pleaded guilty to three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder and additional charges related to possessing the poison ricin and for having an al-Qaida manual.

The July 29 stabbings sent shock waves across the U.K. and led to a week of widespread rioting across parts of England and Northern Ireland after the suspect was falsely identified as an asylum-seeker who had recently arrived in Britain by boat. He was born in Wales.

Rudakubana faces life imprisonment when sentenced Thursday, Justice Julian Goose said.

Defense lawyer Stanley Reiz said he would present information to the judge about Rudakubana's mental health that may be relevant to his sentence.

Rudakubana had consistently refused to speak in court and did so once again when asked to identify himself at the start of the proceedings. But he broke his silence when he was read the 16-count indictment and asked to enter a plea, replying “guilty” to each charge.

The surviving victims and family members of those killed were absent in court because they had expected to arrive Tuesday for opening statements.

Goose asked the prosecutor to apologize on his behalf that they were not present to hear Rudakubana plead guilty.

Prosecutors haven’t said what they believe led Rudakubana — who was days shy of his 18th birthday — to commit the atrocities.

The rampage occurred on the first day of summer vacation when the little girls at the Hart Space, a sanctuary hidden behind a row of houses, were in a class to learn yoga and dance to the music of Taylor Swift.

What was supposed to be a day of joy turned to terror and heartbreak when Rudakubana, armed with a knife attacked the girls and their teacher in the seaside town of Southport in northwest England.

He pleaded guilty to murder in the deaths of Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6.

Eight other girls, ranging in age from 7 to 13, were wounded, along with instructor Leanne Lucas and Jonathan Hayes, who worked in a business next door and intervened. Fifteen other girls, as young as 5, were at the class but uninjured. Under a court order, none of the surviving girls can be named.

Police said the stabbings weren’t classified as acts of terrorism because the motive wasn’t known.

Several months after his arrest at the scene of the crime, Rudakubana was charged with additional counts for production of a biological toxin, ricin and possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism for having the manual in a document on his computer.

Police said they found the evidence during a search of his family's home in a neighboring town.

The day after the killings — and shortly after a peaceful vigil for the victims — a violent group attacked a mosque near the crime scene and pelted police officers with bricks and bottles and set fire to police vehicles.

Rioting then spread to dozens of other towns over the next week when groups made up mostly of men mobilized by far-right activists on social media clashed with police during violent protests and attacked hotels housing migrants.

More than 1,200 people were arrested for the disorder and hundreds have been jailed for up to nine years in prison.

In this Court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook, Southport stabbings suspect Axel Rudakubana appears on the first day of his trial at Liverpool Crown Court, where he has pleaded guilty to killing three young girls and wounded 10 other people in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class, in Liverpool, England, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Elizabeth Cook/PA via AP)

In this Court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook, Southport stabbings suspect Axel Rudakubana appears on the first day of his trial at Liverpool Crown Court, where he has pleaded guilty to killing three young girls and wounded 10 other people in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class, in Liverpool, England, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Elizabeth Cook/PA via AP)

People queue at Liverpool Crown Court in Liverpool, England, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025 where Axel Rudakubana is charged with killing three girls and wounding 10 other people in a stabbing rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England last summer.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

People queue at Liverpool Crown Court in Liverpool, England, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025 where Axel Rudakubana is charged with killing three girls and wounding 10 other people in a stabbing rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England last summer.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

A prison van believed to contain Axel Rudakubana arrives at Liverpool Crown Court in Liverpool, England, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025 where Rudakubana is charged with killing three girls and wounding 10 other people in a stabbing rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England last summer.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

A prison van believed to contain Axel Rudakubana arrives at Liverpool Crown Court in Liverpool, England, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025 where Rudakubana is charged with killing three girls and wounding 10 other people in a stabbing rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England last summer.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

A prison van believed to contain Axel Rudakubana arrives at Liverpool Crown Court in Liverpool, England, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025 where Rudakubana is charged with killing three girls and wounding 10 other people in a stabbing rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England last summer.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

A prison van believed to contain Axel Rudakubana arrives at Liverpool Crown Court in Liverpool, England, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025 where Rudakubana is charged with killing three girls and wounding 10 other people in a stabbing rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England last summer.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

FILE - Police officers watch members of the public outside the Town Hall in Southport, England, Aug. 5, 2024 after three young girls were killed in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club the week before. (AP Photo/Darren Staples, File)

FILE - Police officers watch members of the public outside the Town Hall in Southport, England, Aug. 5, 2024 after three young girls were killed in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club the week before. (AP Photo/Darren Staples, File)

FILE - Tributes are seen outside the Town Hall in Southport, England, Aug. 5, 2024 after three young girls were killed in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club the week before. (AP Photo/Darren Staples, File)

FILE - Tributes are seen outside the Town Hall in Southport, England, Aug. 5, 2024 after three young girls were killed in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club the week before. (AP Photo/Darren Staples, File)

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