Japanese Market Tumbling 4.7%

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading sharply lower on Monday, reversing the losses in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, with the Nikkei 225 plunging 4.7 percent to below the 51,000 mark, with strong losses across most sectors led by exporters, technology and financial stocks amid the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 2,413.29 points or 4.52 percent at 50,959.24, after hitting a low of 50,902.10 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply lower on Thursday ahead of the holiday on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is tumbling almost 5 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is slipping almost 4 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing more than 3 percent and Toyota is declining more than 3 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is plunging almost 7 percent, Screen Holdings is tumbling more than 6 percent and Tokyo Electron are sliding more than 4 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is declining almost 4 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is plunging almost 6 percent and Mizuho Financial is sliding almost 5 percent.

The major exporters are lower. Mitsubishi Electric is tumbling more than 7 percent, Canon is down almost 2 percent, Sony is losing more than 2 percent and Panasonic is sliding almost 6 percent.

Among the other major losers, Mitsui Kinzoku and Renesas Electronics are plunging more than 9 percent each, while Mitsubishi Materials and Sumitomo Electric Industries are tumbling almost 9 percent each. Ebara, Dowa Holdings, Lasertec, Resonac Holdings and Sumitomo Metal Mining are sliding almost 8 percent each, while Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ibiden, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Shin-Etsu Chemical and Mitsui Chemicals are slipping more than 7 percent each. Murata Manufacturing is declining almost 7 percent.

Conversely, there are no other major gainers.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 159 yen-range on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply lower during trading on Friday, extending the slump seen over the two previous sessions. With the extended nosedive, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 plunged to their lowest closing levels in over six months. The Dow and the Nasdaq dipped into contraction territory, reflecting a 10 percent plunge from their latest highs, before regaining some ground going into the end the day.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the way lower, plummeting 443.08 points or 2.0 percent to 21,647.61, while the S&P 500 tumbled 100.01 points or 1.5 percent to 6,506.48 and the Dow slumped 443.96 points or 1.0 percent to 45,577.47.

The major European markets all also showed significant moves to the downside on the day. The German DAX Index dove by 2.0 percent, the French CAC 40 Index plunged by 1.8 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index tumbled by 1.4 percent.

Crude oil prices surged on Friday as fresh attacks on Kuwait by Iran renewed concerns of a prolonged gulf war, stoking production disruption worries. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was up by $1.68 or 1.75 percent at $97.82 per barrel.