Japanese Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is sharply lower in choppy trading on Thursday, extending the losses in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 just a tad above the 27,400 level, following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight, with exporters, technology and financial stocks leading the declines. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 315.17 points or 1.14 percent to 27,401.26, after hitting a low of 27,370.62 earlier. Japanese stocks closed notably lower on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is down more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is losing more than 1 percent and Honda is declining almost 5 percent, despite reporting strong quarterly results, as chip shortages and COVID disruptions continued to impact vehicle production.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings and Tokyo Electron are edging down 0.4 percent each, while Advantest is edging up 0.4 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are edging up 0.2 to 0.3 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is gaining almost 1 percent.

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric and Canon are losing almost 1 percent each, while Panasonic is down more than 1 percent and Sony is declining almost 2 percent.

Among the other major losers, Casio Computer is plunging more than 7 percent, while Yokohama Rubber and Kobe Steel are sliding almost 7 percent each. Kubota is slipping almost 6 percent, Kuraray is losing 4.5 percent, Rakuten is declining more than 4 percent and Idemitsu Kosan is losing almost 4 percent, while Bridgestone and Seiko Epson are down more than 3 percent each. NTT Data, Suzuki Motor, Murata Manufacturing and Mitsui Fudosan are falling almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Fujikura is skyrocketing more than 16 percent and Nexon is gaining almost 5 percent.

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

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply lower during trading on Wednesday, giving back ground after closing high for three straight sessions. The major averages all showed significant moves to the downside, with the Dow pulling back off its best closing level in well over two months.

The major averages finished the session just off their worst levels of the day. The Dow tumbled 646.89 points or 2.0 percent to 32,513.94, the Nasdaq plunged 263.02 points or 2.5 percent to 10,353.17 and the S&P 500 dove by 79.54 points or 2.1 percent to 3,748.57.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.1 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index both dipped by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices tumbled Wednesday, weighed down by a jump in crude stockpiles, concerns about the outlook for energy demand and a stronger U.S. dollar. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended lower by $3.08 or 3.5 percent at $85.83 a barrel, falling for the third consecutive session.