Japanese Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is sharply lower on Tuesday, recouping some of the losses in the previous three sessions, with the Nikkei 225 staying above the 26,300 level, following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight, with weakness across all sectors, particularly financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 472.07 points or 1.76 percent at 26,340.23, after hitting a low of 26,325.09 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 4 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is declining more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda and Toyota are losing more than 1 percent each.

In the tech space, Advantest and Screen Holdings are losing more than 3 percent, while Tokyo Electron is declining more than 2 percent. In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are losing 1.5 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is down almost 1 percent.

The major exporters are weak, with Sony, Mitsubishi Electric and Canon losing more than 1 percent each, while Panasonic is down more than 2 percent. Among the other major losers, TDK is surging almost 7 percent, while Alps Alpine, OKUMA, Casio Computer, Fanuc, Omron, Nitto Denko and M3 are gaining more than 4 percent each. Yaskawa Electric, Ebara, Minebea Mitsumi, Taiyo Yuden and Keyence are adding almost 4 percent each.

Conversely, Nippon Suisan Kaisha and Konami Group are gaining almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, producer prices in Japan were up 0.7 percent on month in June, the Bank of Japan said on Tuesday. That exceeded expectations for an increase of 0.5 percent following the upwardly revised 0.1 percent increase in May (originally flat). On a yearly basis, producer prices jumped 9.2 percent - again beating forecasts for 8.8 percent and down from the upwardly revised 9.3 percent gain in the previous month (originally 9.1 percent).

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 137 yen-range on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a significant move to the downside during trading on Monday following the lackluster performance seen last Friday. The major averages regained ground after an early slump by once again came under pressure going into the close.

The major averages all ended the day firmly in negative territory, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the way lower. While the Nasdaq tumbled 262.71 points or 2.3 percent to 11,372.60, the S&P 500 slumped 44.95 points or 1.2 percent to 3,854.43 and the narrow Dow fell 164.31 points or 0.5 percent to 31,173.84.

Most European stocks also moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index ended the session nearly unchanged, the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.6 percent and the German DAX Index tumbled by 1.4 percent.

Crude oil prices slipped Monday on concerns about the outlook for energy demand amid a surge in coronavirus cases in China, while the dollar's jump amid expectations of sharp interest rate hikes also weighed on prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended lower by $0.70 or 0.7 percent at $104.90 a barrel.