Japanese Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is modestly lower on Wednesday, extending the losses in the previous three sessions, with the Nikkei 225 staying above the 32,600 level, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with losses in exporters and index heavyweights partially offset by gains in technology stocks.

Traders also remain cautious ahead of the US Fed's monetary policy decision later in the day as well as the Bank of Japan's monetary policy on Friday, where it is widely seen maintaining ultra-easy monetary settings.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 32.59 or 0.10 percent at 32,649.92, after hitting a low of 32,488.52 earlier. Japanese stocks ended slightly lower on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is down more than 1 percent and Toyota is slipping almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings is gaining more than 2 percent and Tokyo Electron is adding more than 1 percent, while Advantest is losing almost 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are edging down 0.1 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is edging up 0.1 percent.

Among the major exporters, Sony and Mitsubishi Electric are edging down 0.2 to 0.3 percent each, while Panasonic is losing almost 1 percent. Canon is flat.

Among the other major losers, IHI is plunging more than 5 percent.

Conversely, Nippon Paper and Kobe Steel are gaining almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, producer prices in Japan were up 1.2 percent on year in June, the Bank of Japan said on Wednesday. That missed expectations for an increase of 1.4 percent and was down from the upwardly revised 1.7 percent gain in May (originally 1.6 percent). On a monthly basis, producer prices eased 0.2 percent following the flat reading in the previous month. Excluding international transportation, producer prices rose 1.7 percent on year and fell 0.2 percent on month.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 141 yen-range on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading day on Tuesday but largely maintained a positive bias throughout the session. While the tech-heavy Nasdaq outperformed its counterparts, the Dow managed to close higher for the twelfth straight session.

The Nasdaq climbed 85.69 points or 0.6 percent to 14,144.56 and the S&P 500 rose 12.82 points or 0.3 percent to 4,567.46, reaching its best closing level in over a year. The Dow pulled back off its best levels going into the close but still inched up 26.83 points or 0.1 percent to 35,438.07.

Meanwhile, the major European markets finished the day narrowly mixed. While the French CAC 40 Index slipped by 0.2 percent, the German DAX Index crept up by 0.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil futures settled notably higher Tuesday on optimism about increased Chinese demand after policymakers pledged support to shore up growth in the world's second largest economy. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September gained $0.89 or 1.1 percent at $79.63 a barrel, the highest settlement since mid-April.