Nikkei down 42 percent for year

TOKYO, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Japan's 225-stock Nikkei index, the key Asian market barometer, ended 2008 down about 42 percent but recovery hopes remain high for next year.

The 2008 loss was the steepest one-year percentage drop ever as the country reeled under a recession, the devastating impact of the global financial turmoil and the yen's sharp rise on its export-driven economy.

The index, however, gained some of its lost ground in the final trading sessions of the year, encouraged by the economic stimulus measures to close above the 8,800 mark for the first time since early November.

"Expectations for policies from next year onward remain strong,'' Kazuhiro Takahashi with the Daiwa Securities SMBC Co., told Kyodo news service, referring to the stimulus steps taken by major developed economies, including Japan and the United States.

The report said investors also hoped further stimulus measures would be forthcoming from the incoming U.S. administration of President-elect Barack Obama.

But some experts expressed concerns because of continued macroeconomic and corporate worries in Japan, Kyodo reported.

"Sluggishness of the real economy has been factored in to a certain extent, but I do not know when such woes will bottom out,'' said Hiroichi Nishi at Nikko Cordial Securities Inc. was quoted as saying.

Nishi warned that deflation worries and domestic politics also could put pressure on Japanese stocks.