Nikkei drops from 6 month high

The Nikkei had a choppy start to the new week of trading today (August 18th), with the index still struggling to get back to its recent six-month high.

After hitting half-year record two-and-a-half weeks ago, the Nikkei has lost three per cent and today's trading was choppy.

Last week had been a good one for the index, which rose by 3.7 per cent to erase some of the losses piled up earlier in the year.

Markets this week are awaiting the impact of the impending annual meeting of top central bankers and economists that is set to take place in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in the next few days. The ongoing conflict in Ukraine is also having an effect on investor confidence.

Speaking to Reuters, Takatoshi Itoshima, chief portfolio manager at Commons Asset Management, said: "We are not expecting a surprise to come out, but since top policymakers are gathering, we can expect some clues about the US economy."

This year has been a difficult one for the Nikkei so far, with the index struggling to match its performance in 2013, when it grew at a much faster pace than global rivals such as the Dow Jones in the US and the FTSE 100 in London.

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