Japanese Market Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading slightly lower on Wednesday after opening well in the green, extending the sharp losses in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling below the 62,350 level, with weakness in financial and technology stocks partially offset by gains in automaker stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 29.08 or 0.05 percent at 62,335.84, after touching a high of 63,138.04 earlier. Japanese stocks ended sharply lower on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 4 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining more than 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is adding almost 3 percent and Toyota is gaining almost 4 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is adding almost 3 percent, while Tokyo Electron is declining almost 5 percent and Screen Holdings is tumbling almost 14 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are losing more than 2 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is declining almost 3 percent.

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is losing almost 2 percent and Panasonic is edging down 0.3 percent, while Canon is gaining almost 3 percent and Sony is adding more than 2 percent.

Among other major gainers, Keyence is jumping almost 10 percent and Konami Group is surging almost 8 percent, while Dentsu Group, Resonac Holdings, BANDAI NAMCO and Shiseido are advancing more than 4 percent each. Nintendo is advancing almost 4 percent, while BayCurrent, Eisai, Japan Exchange Group, Nitto Denko and Fanuc are gaining more than 3 percent each. Recruit Holdings and Subaru are adding almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, ARCHION is tumbling more than 8 percdent and Murata Manufacturing is declining almost 6 percent, while SHIFT and Taiyo Yuden are losing almost 4 percent each. Renesas Electronics is slipping more than 3 percent, while Yokohama Financial and Resona Holdings are down almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 163 yen-range on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, continued to experience choppy trading during Tuesday's session, following the lackluster performance seen in the previous session. While the Dow showed a strong move to the upside, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 spent much of the day lingering near the unchanged line after recovering from early weakness.

The Dow closed higher for the third straight session, jumping 537.24 points or 1 percent to 52,747.32. The S&P 500 also rose 15.60 points or 0.2 percent to 7,428.78, but the tech-heavy Nasdaq dipped 55.17 points or 0.2 percent to 24,876.91. Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index advanced by 0.8 percent, the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.6 percent and the German DAX Index rose by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices plunged again on Tuesday amid rising optimism over a resolution to the U.S.-Iran conflict, easing supply disruption concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery shed $3.61 or 4.37 percent at $79.00 per barrel.