Japanese Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is modestly lower on Wednesday, giving up some of the gains in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 falling below the 32,700 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders remained cautious ahead of the release a key US inflation data later in the day that could influence the outlook for interest rates.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 88.07 or 0.27 percent at 32,688.30, after hitting a low of 32,662.27 earlier. Japanese stocks ended significantly higher on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 2 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining almost 2 percent and Toyota is adding more than 2 percent.

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

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is gaining almost 1 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are advancing more than 1 percent each.

Among the major exporters, Canon and Mitsubishi Electric are edging up 0.3 to 0.4 percent each, while Sony is adding more than 1 percent. Panasonic is gaining almost 1 percent.

There are no other major losers.

Conversely, Yokohama Rubber is gaining more than 4 percent, while Sumitomo Pharma and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha are adding more than 3 percent each. Idemitsu Kosan and Bridgestone are up almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, Producer prices in Japan were up 0.3 percent on month in August, the Bank of Japan said on Wednesday. That beat forecasts for an increase of 0.1 percent, which would have been unchanged from the July reading.

On a yearly basis, producer prices climbed 3.2 percent - in line with expectations and down from the downwardly revised 3.4 percent increase in the previous month (originally 3.6 percent). Export prices were up 0.5 percent on month and down 0.8 percent on year, the bank said, while import prices slumped 0.9 percent on month and 15.9 percent on year.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 147 yen-range on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks attempted to recover from initial weakness on Tuesday but moved back to the downside in the latter part of the session. The major averages all ended the day in negative territory, although the Dow posted a relatively modest loss.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq slumped 144.28 points or 1.0 percent to 13,773.61, largely offsetting the strong gain posted on Monday. The S&P 500 also fell 25.56 points or 0.6 percent to 4,461.90, while the Dow edged down 17.73 points or 0.1 percent to 34,645.99.

Meanwhile, the major European markets finished the day mixed. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.4 percent and the German DAX Index slid by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices moved sharply higher on Tuesday to a 10-month closing high after the monthly report from (OPEC) showed the oil market may be a lot tighter than initially thought. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended higher by $1.55 or 1.8 percent at $88.84 a barrel.