Japanese Market Plummeting More Than 6%

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is plummeting on Monday, extend the sharp losses in the previous two sessions, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, with the Nikkei 225 tumbling more than 6 percent to below the 31,600 level, with strong losses across all sectors led by index heavyweights, technology and financial stocks as the global trade war ignited by the U.S. raises fears of a global recession.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 2,207.18 points or 6.53 percent at 31,573.40, after hitting a low of 30,792.74 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply lower on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is plummets almost 12 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is declining almost 4 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing almost 3 percent and Toyota is declining more than 2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is tumbling more than 9 percent, Tokyo Electron is sliding almost 8 percent and Screen Holdings is plunging almost 9 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Mizuho Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are plummeting more than 11 percent each.

The major exporters are lower. Panasonic is declining more than 8 percent, Canon is losing more than 5 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is slipping more than 6 percent and Sony is tumbling almost 11 percent.

Among the other major losers, Yaskawa Electric is plummeting more than 18 percent, while Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Resona Holdings are tumbling more than 15 percent each. Disco, Olympus and Fujikura are plunging more than 14 percent each. Sumitomo Electric Industries, Sumco, Japan Steel Works and Renesas Electronics are sliding almost 14 percent each. Socionext and Furukawa Electric are declining more than 13 percent each.

Conversely, there are no other major gainers.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 146 yen-range on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed another substantial move to the downside during trading on Friday extending the nosedive seen over the course of the previous session. With the continued sell-off, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 plunged to their lowest closing levels in eleven months.

The major averages ended the session just off their worst levels of the day. The S&P 500 plummeted 322.44 points or 6.0 percent to 5,074.08, the Nasdaq dove 962.82 points or 5.8 percent to 15,587.79 and the Dow tumbled 2,231.07 points or 5.5 percent to 38,314.86.

The major European markets also showed substantial moves to the downside. While the French CAC 40 Index tumbled by 4.3 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index both plunged by 5.0 percent.

Crude oil prices showed another substantial move to the downside on Friday on continuing concerns about the impact a global trade war will have on fuel demand. West Texas Intermediate for May delivery plunged $4.95 or 7.4 percent to $62 a barrel, a three-year low.