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In recent weeks we've posted occasional articles around Nintendo share values, which have generally been a reflection of improved investor confidence heading into a big year for the company. February had been a strong month, with calm markets and faith in planned moves into mobile contributing to a healthy recent increase in share value.

Unfortunately those steady gains have been wiped out by circumstances effectively out of Nintendo's control. Making headlines at present are rapid declines in stock markets around the world; these are the results of many factors, but the sell-offs and panic are prompting some media to talk of 'market turmoil' and panic. European and North American markets seemed to kickstart the problems and the Japanese Nikkei has followed, losing around 5% of its overall value on 9th February trading; that's a significant number.

As Bloomberg reports Nintendo was a company that suffered as a result, and the strengthening of the Yen against the dollar merely exaggerated the issue for Japanese companies heavily reliant on exports. With Nintendo's significant business overseas being a factor it lost 8.8% of its share value in one day, dropping to 15,835 Yen. As you can see in the chart for the last month below, that effectively wiped out recent gradual gains in February for a return to January levels.

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The hope will naturally be that markets will stabilise a little after the initial shock this week. It's also worth noting that Nintendo isn't alone in losing a lot of value in the panic; Japanese banks were hit hard, as were companies such as Nissan, Toyota and Panasonic.

Ultimately, Nintendo management and shareholders are left to contemplate a hefty drop in a single day, yet in this case it's less a reflection of confidence in the big N's business, and more an indication of the current economic issues affecting all territories.

[source bloomberg.com]