Japanese Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading notably lower on Wednesday, reversing to the gains in the previous two sessions, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling well below the 39,200 level, with weakness in index heavyweights and technology stocks partially offset by gains in exporter stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 193.71 or 0.49 percent at 39,173.87, after hitting a low of 39,164.38 and a high of 39,391.39 earlier. Japanese stocks ended notably higher on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.3 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.5 percent and Toyota is also edging down 0.1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing more than 2 percent, Screen Holdings is down more than 1 percent and Tokyo Electron is declining almost 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial are edging down 0.2 to 0.3 percent each, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is gaining more than 1 percent.

Among the major exporters, Canon and Sony are edging up 0.3 percent each, while Mitsubishi Electric is gaining almost 1 percent and Panasonic is adding more than 1 percent.

Among other major losers, Disco is losing more than 3 percent.

Conversely, Kawasaki Heavy Industries is surging almost 6 percent and IHI is gaining more than 4 percent, while Konica Minolta, Ryohin Keikaku and Kikkoman are adding more than 3 percent each. T&D Holdings and Kuraray are advancing almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, producer prices in Japan were up 3.7 percent on year in November, the Bank of Japan said on Wednesday. That exceeded expectations for an increase of 3.4 percent and was up from the upwardly revised 3.6 percent gain in October (originally 3.4 percent).

On a monthly basis, producer prices were up 0.3 percent - unchanged from the October reading following an upward revision from 0.2 percent and exceeding expectations for 0.2 percent.

Export prices were up 0.2 percent on month and 0.7 percent on year, the bank said, while import prices slipped 0.5 percent on month and 2.8 percent on year.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 151 yen-range on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks moved moderately lower over the course of the trading session on Tuesday after failing to sustain an early move to the upside. The major averages added to the losses posted during Monday's session, with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 pulling back further off last Friday's record closing highs. The major averages dipped to new lows for the session in the latter part of the trading day. The Dow slid 154.10 points or 0.4 percent to 44,247.83, the Nasdaq fell 49.45 points or 0.3 percent to 19,687.24 and the S&P 500 slipped 17.94 points or 0.3 percent to 6,034.91.

The major European markets all also moved to the downside on the day. The French CAC 40 Index slumped by 1.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.9 percent and the German DAX Index edged down by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices settled higher on Tuesday amid hopes that demand from China will increase following recent stimulus measures announced by the Chinese government. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January closed up $0.22 or 0.32 percent at $68.59 a barrel.