Toshiba shares plunge further after loss warning

Tokyo : Toshiba shares plunged by double digits Thursday for a third straight session, as investors dumped the stock on expectations the company will take a massive loss on its US nuclear business.

The troubled company's stock plummeted as much as 25.55 percent at one point -- virtually the maximum fall permitted for the day -- before paring losses to close 16.97 percent down at 258.7 yen.

Over the three days, the company's market value declined by an approximately 781 billion yen ($6.70 billion).

On Tuesday, the troubled conglomerate said that costs linked to the acquisition last year by its US subsidiary of a nuclear service company will possibly come to "several billion US dollars" and cause earnings to take a hit.

The exact figure of the potential write-down is still being worked out, Toshiba President Satoshi Tsunakawa told reporters after the announcement.

He hinted the company may seek support from financial institutions to boost capital, while local media Thursday reported it has begun talking with partner banks about such support.

Toshiba shares closed nearly 12 percent lower on Tuesday after media reports about the potential loss and dived more than 20 percent on Wednesday -- the most they were allowed to fall that day.

"Those who were not be able to sell are selling today," Nobuyuki Fujimoto, senior market analyst at SBI Securities in Tokyo, told AFP on Thursday, referring to the previous day's decline to the daily limit.

But in a possible sign that the worst may be over, selling momentum faded somewhat during the day.

Toshiba's nuclear woes are the latest blow to the once-proud pillar of corporate Japan.