Japanese Market Significantly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is significantly lower on Tuesday, extending the losses in the previous three sessions, with the Nikkei 225 falling below the 33,500 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, and dragged by losses in market heavyweights.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 272.47 points or 0.83 percent at 32,426.34, after hitting a low of 32,306.99 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly lower on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing 2.5 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is down almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.3 percent, while Toyota is edging up 0.3 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing almost 3 percent and Screen Holdings is down more than 1 percent, while Tokyo Electron is edging up 0.1 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are edging up 0.1 percent each.

The major exporters are mostly lower. Mitsubishi Electric is losing more than 1 percent, Sony is declining almost 2 percent and Canon is down almost 1 percent. Panasonic is flat. Among the other major losers, CyberAgent and Marubeni are losing almost 4 percent each, while Sumitomo Realty & Development, Citizen Watch, M3, Sumitomo Pharma, Mitsubishi, Mitsui Fudosan, Japan Steel Works, Mitsubishi Logistics and Recruit Holdings are all declining almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha is surging almost 7 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 143 yen-range on Tuesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks closed lower on Monday with those from the technology sector suffering sharp losses. Worries about tighter monetary policies and the impact of higher rates on economic growth weighed on the market. Investors looked ahead to the results of Bank Stress Tests, and some crucial economic data releases this week.

The major averages all closed in the red. The Dow edged down 12.72 points or 0.04 percent to settle at 33,714.71, and the S&P 500 drifted down 19.51 points or 0.45 percent to 4,328.82, while the Nasdaq ended down 156.74 points or 1.16 percent at 13,335.78.

The major European markets also moved mostly to the downside on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE and Germany's DAX both ended down 0.11 percent, and France's CAC 40 climbed 0.29 percent.

Crude oil prices settled modestly higher on Monday with investors weighing global energy demand prospects and possible supply disruptions due to political instability in Russia. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended higher by $0.21 or about 0.3% at $69.37 a barrel.