The Tokyo Stock Exchange was forced to close early on Wednesday. This is due to fallout from the Livedoor investigation. Traders sold a record amount and that amout forced the Stock Exchange to close 20 minutes early. The Tokyo Stock Exchange is programmed for 4 million trades a day. The number of trades reached 3.5 million an hour before closing. For cautionary purposes, the Exchange was closed. The Nikkei 225 index dropped almost 3% to 15,341.18 points.

The fallout from this fiasco at the world’s 2nd largest Stock Exchange affected the other world markets. While Wall Street wasn’t hit too hard the European stocks were affected more. American companies such as Yahoo trade in the Tokyo Stock Exchange and their stocks fell. Not just internet companies were affected though. Companies such as Canon, Sony, and Toshiba were also hit hard.

Update on the Livedoor investigation: Livedoor is suspected of concealing an $8.7 million loss. The securites laws violations are for providing false information. For more info on the Livedoor information and it’s president, Takafumi Horie, go here.