Japan Airlines shares hit new low

Shares in Japan Airlines tumbled as much as 11 % on Tuesday, touching a new low of 85 yen. The slide was prompted by media reports that the carrier could be forced to file for bankruptcy. Last week, Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii said the state would not give the airline any more loans. Japan Airlines has rival offers from American Airlines and Delta to buy a stake in the firm. A bankruptcy filing would make a deal more complicated. "There's a lot of concern about what might happen if JAL does end up going through a bankruptcy court, what will happen to shareholders if the stock basically becomes worthless," said Nagayuki Yamagishi from Mitsubishi UFJ Securities. The Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp - a state-backed fund - was asked in October to help out the debt-laden Japan Airlines. A decision is due in January, but sources have told Reuters that it was considering a bankruptcy filing as part of the restructuring plan. Japan Airlines is battling 1.5 trillion yen of debt ( $16 bn; £10 bn). It has been bailed out by the government four times since 2001. Its shares have slumped nearly 60 % this year.