Japanese Market Significantly Lower

(RTTNews) - Giving up some of the gains in the previous three sessions, the Japanese stock market is significantly lower on Thursday, following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling below the 36,000 mark, with weakness across most sectors led by index heavyweights and financial stocks.

The markets mirrored the sharp sell-off on Wall Street overnight after the US Fed pushed back against bets on an interest rate cut in March.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 326.40 points or 0.90 percent to 35,960.31, after hitting a low of 35,940.06 earlier. Japanese shares ended notably higher on Wednesday.

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

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining more than 1 percent and Screen Holdings is adding more than 3 percent, while Tokyo Electron is losing almost 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is losing 1.5 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is down almost 1 percent and Mizuho Financial is declining almost 2 percent.

Among the major exporters, Canon is edging down 0.1 percent and Panasonic is losing more than 2 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric and Sony are declining almost 2 percent each.

Among other major losers, Aozora Bank is plummeting 21.5 percent, Sumitomo Pharma is plunging more than 18 percent, M3 is sliding almost 13 percent, Sumitomo Chemical is declining almost 6 percent and Tokuyama is losing almost 5 percent, while Resona Holdings, Toto, Rakuten Group, and Lasertec are all down more than 4 percent each. Alps Alpine is slipping almost 4 percent, while Hitachi Construction Machinery, IHI, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust and Konami Group are all down more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, Nomura Holdings, TDK and East Japan Railway are surging almost 6 percent each, while Daiichi Sankyo and OKUMA are surging more than 5 percent each. Fuji Electric is gaining almost 5 percent and West Japan Railway is adding more than 4 percent, while CyberAgent and Nitto Denkoare adding more than 3 percent each. Chubu Electric Power and Nisshin Seifun Group are advancing almost 3 percent each.

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

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the trading day on Wednesday, with the major averages all moving to the downside following the mixed performance seen in the previous session. The tech-heavy Nasdaq posted a particularly steep loss, extending the notable pullback seen on Tuesday.

The major averages finished the session near their worst levels of the day. The Nasdaq plunged 345.89 points or 2.2 percent to 15,164.01, the S&P 500 tumbled 79.32 points or 1.6 percent to 4,845.65 and the Dow slid 317.01 points or 0.8 percent to 38,150.30.

The major European markets all also moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.5 percent, German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.4 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices slumped Wednesday, weighed down by data showing an unexpected jump in U.S. crude inventories last week, and concerns about the outlook for demand after data showed another contraction in Chinese manufacturing activity. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March fell $1.97 or 2.5 percent at $75.85 a barrel.