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Nikkei futures down more than 1%

Nikkei 225 futures for the March contract are down 1.02% as the USD/JPY continues to sell-off aggressively, with no signs of intervention by the BOJ yet, and with Japanese markets closed on public holidays.

The decline in the futures follows a -2.3% loss in the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo during Wednesday, as the risk-off environment worsens amid fears of oil-energy companies going bankrupt, China's economic slowdown and financial institutions exposure to bad energy-related debt. Besides, the unwinding of USD longs amid lower chances of further rate hikes in the US is also causing serious concerns, with broad-based USD weakness still present.

As reported in a Financial Times article: "The head of Japan’s biggest brokerage (Nomura) believes the country’s battered equity market will rebound once oil-dependent sovereign wealth funds run out of stocks to sell."

The FT adds: "Koji Nagai, chief executive of Nomura, said Japanese shares had been targeted by Middle Eastern SWFs (sovereign wealth funds), which have been under pressure from dropping crude prices, because of the market’s abundant liquidity. When they do stop selling, investors can expect a sharp rebound.”

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