Japanese Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - Extending the losses in the previous session, Japanese shares are notably lower on Wednesday, with the Nikkei 225 falling below the 32,200 level, following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight, with weakness across most sectors, led by index heavyweights and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 149.98 or 0.46 percent at 32,165.07, after hitting a low of 31,960.32 earlier. Japanese stocks ended sharply lower on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is flat, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing almost 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is declining more than 2 percent and Toyota is edging down 0.2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest and Screen Holdings are edging down 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while Tokyo Electron is edging up 0.1 percent.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is losing almost 1 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is down more than 1 percent, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is flat.

Among the major exporters, Sony is gaining almost 1 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is adding more than 1 percent, while Canon and Panasonic are losing more than 1 percent each.

Among other major losers, Nidec is losing more than 3 percent, while Teijin, Keisei Electric Railway, Tokyo Electric Power, GS Yuasa and Chubu Electric Power are declining almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, there are no other major gainers.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 148 yen-range on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the trading day on Tuesday, more than offsetting the moderate rebound seen during Monday's session. The major averages all showed significant moves to the downside, falling to their lowest closing levels in over three months.

The major averages climbed off their worst levels going into the close but still posted steep losses. The Dow slumped 388.00 points or 1.1 percent to 33,618.88, the Nasdaq plunged 207.71 points or 1.6 percent to 13,063.61 and the S&P 500 tumbled 63.91 points or 1.5 percent to 4,273.53.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index slumped by 1.0 percent and the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.7 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index bucked the downtrend and closed just above the unchanged line.

Crude oil futures moved back to the upside during trading on Tuesday as ongoing concerns about tight supplies overshadowed worries about the global economic outlook. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November delivery climbed $0.71 or 0.8 percent to $90.39 a barrel.