Japanese Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading sharply lower on Wednesday, extending the losses in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling well below the 61,850 level, with weakness in financial and technology stocks partially offset by gains in exporter stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 1,207.02 or 1.91 percent at 61,816.02, after hitting a low of 61,810.21 earlier. Japanese stocks ended modestly lower on Monday ahead of the holiday on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is tumbling almost 6 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding almost 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.1 percent and Toyota is also edging down 0.3 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is declining more than 4 percent, while Tokyo Electron and Screen Holdings are losing almost 4 percent each.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are losing more than 1 percent.

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is advancing almost 2 percent, Canon is edging up 0.1 percent and Sony is gaining almost 1 percent, while Panasonic is tumbling more than 5 percent.

Among other major losers, Mitsui Chemicals and Taiyo Yuden are plunging more than 9 percent each, while Kioxia Holdings and Kyocera are tumbling more than 7 percent each. Socionext, Disco and Furukawa Electric are slipping almost 6 percent each, while Fujikura is declining more than 5 percent, while Sumitomo Electric Industries and Kokusai Electric are sliding almost 5 percent. JX Advanced Metals, Mitsui Kinzoku, Resonac Holdings and Renesas Electronics are losing more than 4 percent each.

Conversely, Yamato Holdings is soaring almost 14 percent, Yamaha is surging more than 5 percent, Japan Airlines is jumping almost 5 percent, Capcom is advancing more than 4 percent and Konami Group is gaining almost 4 percent, while NEXON and Nitto Denko are adding more than 3 percent each. Kirin Holdings, LY, ZOZO, Nisshin Seifun, ANA Holdings, Nintendo and Central Japan Railway are all up almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, the monetary base in Japan was down 13.6 percent on year in October, the Bank of Japan said on Wednesday - coming in at 532.571 trillion yen. That beat forecasts for a decline of 14.0 percent following the 15.2 percent drop in September.

Banknotes in circulation fell 2.3 percent, while coins in circulation sank 1.1 percent and current account balances slumped 16.4 percent - including a 15.2 percent fall in reserve balances. The adjusted monetary base was up 4.9 percent on year at 533.392 trillion yen.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 158 yen-range on Wednesday.

On Wall Street, stock indexes once again moved in opposite directions during trading on Tuesday after turning mixed over the course of the previous session. While the Nasdaq and S&P 500 rebounded following Monday's significant downturn, the narrower Dow moved back to the downside.

The Nasdaq advanced 207.65 points or 0.8 percent to 25,372.01 and the S&P 500 rose 27.52 points or 0.4 percent to 7,568.92, but the Dow fell 197.26 points or 0.4 percent to 51,786.72. Meanwhile, the major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slumped 1.1 percent, the German DAX Index fell by 0.5 percent and the French CAC 40 Index dipped by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices turned lower on Tuesday amid rising expectations on a possible settlement between the U.S. and Iran. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $0.52 or 0.54 percent at $95.94 per barrel.