Japanese Market Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is slightly lower on Wednesday, extending the losses in the previous session, despite the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling to near the 36,100 level, as traders reacted to some domestic corporate earnings.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 50.06 or 0.14 percent at 36,110.60, after hitting a low of 35,906.32 earlier. Japanese stocks ended notably lower on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is flat. Among automakers, Honda is gaining more than 2 percent and Toyota is surging almost 6 percent after it boosted its annual net profit forecast to a record high and reported strong sales in all regions.

In the tech space, Advantest and Screen Holdings are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Tokyo Electron is losing almost 2 percent.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is edging down 0.2 percent, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging up 0.1 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is gaining almost 1 percent.

Among the major exporters, Sony and Panasonic are edging down 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while Mitsubishi Electric is losing almost 2 percent. Canon is adding almost 1 percent.

Among other major losers, Daikin Industries is plunging more than 7 percent, Sharp is sliding almost 7 percent and LY Corp. is slipping more than 6 percent, while Ajinomoto and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries are losing more than 4 percent each. KDDI and Kikkoman are declining almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, GS Yuasa is skyrocketing more than 16 percent, Mitsubishi is soaring 10.5 percent and Ricoh is surging more than 6 percent, while Nichirei and Nissui are advancing more than 5 percent each. Denso is gaining almost 5 percent, while Nissan Motor, Suzuki Motor and JTEKT are adding almost 4 percent each. Mazda Motor, Mitsui Fudosan and Subaru are advancing more than 3 percent each, while Kajima and NTN are up almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 147 yen-range on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction throughout the trading day on Tuesday following the significant volatility seen over the past few sessions. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing modestly higher.

The Dow climbed 141.24 points or 0.4 percent to 38,521.36, the S&P 500 rose 11.42 points or 0.2 percent to 4,954.23 and the Nasdaq inched up 11.32 points or 0.1 percent to 15,609.00.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index advanced by 0.9 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.8 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Tuesday, extending gains from the previous session after the Energy Information Administration's said oil inventories may drop by 0.8 million barrels per day in the current quarter. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $0.53 or 0.73 percent at $73.31 a barrel.