Nikkei May Fall to 5,000, Yen to 85 Per Dollar, Nikkei Reports

By Kathleen Chu

Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- The Nikkei-225 Stock Average may fall to as low as 5,000 and the Japanese currency may decline to 85 yen per dollar, Nikkei English News said, citing analysts.

Daisuke Uno, chief strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., Satoru Ogasawara of Credit Suisse Group and Minoru Shioiri of Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Co. all predicted the dollar might fall as low as 85 yen, Nikkei said.

There is ``no sign of a market bottom with the weak-yen bubble having collapsed,'' Nikkei said, citing Tsutomu Fujita, a strategist at Nikko Citigroup Ltd.

The yen rose 2.8 percent to 94.62 per dollar in New York Oct. 24, after touching 90.93, the strongest since August 1995. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average declined 811.90, or 9.6 percent, to close at 7,649.08 in Tokyo yesterday, a level not seen since April 2003.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kathleen Chu in Tokyo at kchu2@bloomberg.net.