Slump slaps Japanese game stocks

Yahoo! Japan reports continuing falls across the board on the Tokyo Stock Exchange this week. The primary causes of the drop cited were sagging US stock prices, oil prices, and anxiety over stagnation and inflation in the US. Also sending ripples through the domestic market was the arrest of Yoshiaki Murakami, one of Japan's biggest fund managers, on insider-trading charges over the weekend.

Game stocks were not immune to the plunge, as can be seen from Tuesday's closing figures. Surprisingly, Nintendo saw a big drop--two percent--despite strong DS sales in Japan and critical acclaim for the Wii at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. However, several third-party publishers, such as Capcom and Konami, were largely unaffected.

Company: / price / change / percent change

Capcom: 1,293 yen / -4 /-0.31%

Konami: 2,626 yen / -10 / -0.38%

Nintendo: 18,830 yen / -410 / -2.13%

Sega Sammy: 4,280 yen / -20, -0.47%

Sony: 5,110 yen / - 80 / -1.54%

Square Enix: 2,450 yen / -35/ -1.41%

Tecmo: 914 yen / -9 / -0.98%