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Tokyo, Oct 7 Xinhua Tokyo stocks closed sharply lower Tuesday with the key Nikkei index briefly dipping below the 10,000 mark for the first time since December 2003.

BUS19BusinessTokyo stocks close sharply lowerTokyo, Oct 7 Xinhua Tokyo stocks closed sharply lower Tuesday with the key Nikkei index briefly dipping below the 10,000 mark for the first time since December 2003. The benchmark Nikkei-225 Stock Average lost 317.19 points, or 3. 03 percent, from Monday to 10,155.90 at its close. In the afternoon Nikkei trimmed some losses after hitting a new low of 9,916.21 in nearly five years in the morning, down 556.88 points, or 5.32 percent. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was down 21.44 points, or 2.15 percent, to 977.61. On the First Section, declining issues outnumbered advancing ones 1,356 to 315, with 42 others remaining unchanged. Stocks fell across the board. Decliners are led by pharmaceutical, transport equipment, and forestry and fishery issues. Only five sectors gained ground, namely pulp and paper, real estate, insurance, iron and steel, and miscellaneous. The fall was following a more than four percent drop Monday in Tokyo. The Dow Jones index also dipped below 10,000 points for the first time in four years overnight. The overall sentiment on the market is bearish. Dealers believed the worst are yet to come as there is no clear sign of bottoming out. The Nikkei already lost more than 1,200 points from last Thursday to Tuesday. Japan's central bank Tuesday decided to keep the interest rate unchanged at 0.5 percent for a consecutive 20th month, giving consideration to worsening economic situations. The Second Section index was down 83.63 points, or 3.94 percent, to 2,037.52 on a volume of 88.12 million shares. On the Osaka Securities Exchange, the near-term December Nikkei 225 index futures contract was down 240 points to 10,210.--Xinhuadkg/dg335 Words07101434