In Brief: Japan Bank Stocks Trip on Bad-Loan Report

Japanese bank shares fell Wednesday on the Tokyo stock exchange after the newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that bad loans at the country's 15 major banks totaled about $164.2 billion as of March 31 under new, more rigorous government classification guidelines.

The latest total is $51.23 billion higher than was calculated under the old guidelines, the newspaper said.

Bank shares and stocks overall were also hurt by investor worry about the possible impact on U.S. economic growth of the Federal Reserve's decision to resume a monetary bias toward raising interest rates if inflationary pressures develop.

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi slid 46 cents, to $13.13 per share; Industrial Bank of Japan 39 cents, to $7.34; and Mitsubishi Trust 74 cents, to $8.97.

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