URGENT: Nikkei briefly drops 2% in afternoon on further tech stock falls

The Nikkei stock index briefly plunged over 2 percent in early afternoon trading Thursday as selling particularly in technology issues accelerated on concerns about negative economic impacts from rising U.S. and Japanese yields.

At 1 p.m., the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average was down 597.50 points, or 1.86 percent, from Wednesday at 31,444.75.