A Japanese businessman reads papers in front of a Tokyo brokerage's electric board displaying share prices, Tuesday morning, Nov. 14, 2000. Tokyo stocks slipped early Tuesday following continued declines on Wall Street. The benchmark 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average shed 10.17 points, or 0.07 percent, to 14,654.47 points in the first one hour of trading.

TOKYO - Tokyo stocks lost ground by midday on Monday as investors stepped aside to watch the outcome of a political squabble between Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and his opponents which include even his fellow party members.

Investors, wary ahead of a no-confidence motion expected to be put to Mori's cabinet later in the day, let go of large-cap technology issues such as Sony Corp and Fujitsu Ltd.

"No one wants to buy before they see what happens to Mori," said Hidenori Kawasaki, general manager of equities trading at Kokusai Securities.

"The market definitely wants a change but it's also afraid a big change could delay the passing of the budget among other substantial matters. It's hard to say what a best-case scenario would be."

The benchmark Nikkei average fell 87.83 point or 0.60 percent to 14,456.47. December Nikkei fell 160 points to 14,470.

The broader TOPIX index fell 10.45 points or 0.76 percent to 1,369.18.

Electronics giant Sony fell 1.58 percent to 8,100 yen while chip and computer maker Fujitsu Ltd sank 2.1 percent to 1,771 yen.

NTT DoCoMo Inc, mobile telecoms giant and Japan's biggest issue by market capitalization, fell 1.67 percent to 2.94 million yen.

But its parent and telecoms giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp firmed 1.54 percent to 921,000 yen, as investors reckoned its 3.5 percent drop over the past week had been overdone.

NTT is to announce its half-year results just as the market closes at 3:00 p.m. (0600 GMT). They are widely expected to show the industry's move toward deregulation hurting the former state monopoly's revenues.

Automaker Nissan Motor Co Ltd and Kyocera Corp are also due to announce earnings later in the day.

Summary

受政坛不稳定因素的影响，19日日本股市大幅下挫。东证股价指数继跌破1400点大关之后，又下降了10.45点，达到1369.18点。索尼、富士等绩优股的股价也纷纷下跌，最多的竟达到2.1%。虽然森喜郎内阁的不信任案最终没有被通过，但在随后的几个交易日内日本股市仍然跌势不止。

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squabble [n] 口角，争论
cabinet [n] 内阁
equities [n] 公司普通股
scenario [n] 情节
benchmark [n] 基准

摘自英文锁定