Japanese Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading notably lower on Wednesday, extending the strong losses in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling well below the 69,450 level, with weakness in financial stocks partially offset by gains in automakers stocks. All other sectors are trading mixed.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 371.24 or 0.53 percent at 69,417.14, after hitting a low of 69,280.59 earlier. Japanese stocks ended sharply lower on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is adding more than 1 percent and Toyota is edging up 0.1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is edging up 0.2 percent and Screen Holdings is advancing almost 2 percent, while Tokyo Electron is losing more than 2 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial are edging down 0.3 to 0.4 percent, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is losing almost 1 percent.

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is losing more than 2 percent and Canon is edging down 0.5 percent, while Panasonic is jumping more than 4 percent and Sony is advancing almost 2 percent.

Among other major losers, T&D Holdings and Shin-Etsu Chemical are slipping more than 3 percent each, while Dai-ichi Life, ZOZO, Tokyo Electric Power and NEXON are losing almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Ibiden is jumping more than 6 percent, while J. Front Retailing, IHI and Kioxia Holdings are advancing more than 4 percent each. Japan Steel Works and Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings are gaining almost 4 percent each, while Mitsui Kinzoku and Sapporo Holdings are adding more than 3 percent. OKUMA and Nikon are up almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 161 yen-range on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks showed another significant move to the downside during trading on Tuesday following the weakness seen in the previous session. The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the way lower, while the Dow posted a more modest loss.

The major averages all ended the day in negative territory. The Nasdaq plunged 579.56 points or 2.2 percent to 25,587.04, the S&P 500 tumbled 107.33 points or 1.4 percent to 7,365.46 and the Dow edged down 45.87 points or 0.1 percent to 51,666.84. The major European markets all also moved to the downside on the day. The German DAX Index slumped by 1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.7 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices have moved lower on Tuesday following active shipping movements across the Strait of Hormuz since its reopening, which eased supply disruption concerns. WTI Crude Oil for August month delivery was last seen trading down by $0.71 or 0.96 percent at $73.15 per barrel.