Japanese Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - Extending the losses in the previous two sessions, the Japanese market is sharply lower on Thursday, following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight. The Nikkei 225 is plunging well below the 37,000 mark, with weakness across most sectors led by index heavyweights and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 629.91 points or 1.63 percent to 37,926.96, after hitting a low of 37,617.00 earlier. Japanese shares ended significantly lower on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is declining almost 3 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is losing almost 2 percent and Honda is down more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is plunging more than 6 percent, Tokyo Electron is losing more than 3 percent and Screen Holdings is down 1.5 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each.

Among the major exporters, Canon is losing more than 1 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is slipping almost 6 percent, while Panasonic and Sony are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each.

Among other major losers, Terumo, Mitsubishi Electric and Tokyo Electric Power are plunging more than 5 percent each, while Socionext is losing more than 4 percent. Nissan Chemical is down almost 4 percent, while Ajinomoto, Fanuc and Disco are declining more than 3 percent each. Eisai, JGC Holdings and Itochu are slipping almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, there are no other major gainers.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 157 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stock indexes all moved to the downside during trading on Wednesday following the mixed performance seen during Tuesday's session. The Dow showed a notable decline, falling to its lowest closing level in almost a month.

The major averages all finished the day firmly in negative territory. The Dow slumped 411.32 points or 1.1 percent to 38,441.54, the S&P 500 slid 39.09 points or 0.7 percent to 5,266.95 and the Nasdaq fell 99.30 points or 0.6 percent to 16,920.58.

The major European markets have also moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index tumbled by 1.5 percent, the German DAX Index slumped by 1.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.9 percent.

Crude oil prices fell on Wednesday on concerns about the outlook for interest rates, and the likely adverse impact high borrowing costs will have on energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July sank $0.60 at $79.23 a barrel.