Japanese Market Sharply Lower; Down 2%

(RTTNews) - Adding to the losses in the previous session, the Japanese stock market is sharply lower on Tuesday, with the Nikkei 225 falling below the 38,500 level, mirroring the broadly sell off on Wall Street overnight, with losses across most sectors led by index heavyweights and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 751.38 points or 1.92 percent at 38,481.42, after hitting a low of 38,461.11 earlier. Japanese shares ended notably lower on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is declining more than 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing almost 2 percent and Toyota is down 2.5 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing almost 4 percent, Tokyo Electron is declining more than 4 percent and Screen Holdings is down more than 3 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are losing almost 1 percent each.

The major exporters are mostly weak. Canon is losing almost 1 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is declining almost 2 percent and Panasonic is edging down 0.1 percent, while Sony is edging up 0.4 percent. Among the other major losers, J. Front Retailing and Isetan Mitsukoshi are plunging almost 6 percent each, while Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha is losing more than 4 percent. Resonac Holdings and Disco are down almost 4 percent each, while Socionext, Tokyu Fudosan, Tokio Marine, Sumitomo Realty & Development, Lasertec, Fujikura, TDK and ENEOS Holdings are all declining more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, Toho is surging more than 8 percent and Nidec is gaining almost 6 percent, while Olympus and Hoya are advancing almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 154 yen-range on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed another substantial move to the downside over the course of the trading session on Monday following the steep drop seen last Friday. The major averages moved notably higher early in the session, but pulled back sharply as the day progressed.

The major averages all closed firmly in the red, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq showing a particularly steep drop. The Nasdaq plunged 290.08 points or 1.8 percent to 15,885.02, the S&P 500 tumbled 61.59 points or 1.2 percent to 5,061.82 and the Dow slid 248.13 points or 0.7 percent to 37,735.11.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.4 percent and the German DAX Index climbed by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices fell on Monday amid slightly easing concerns about supply disruptions after Iran's drone and missile attack on Israel did not cause any big damage. Concerns about the outlook for oil demand in China and a strong U.S. dollar also weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for May ended lower by $0.25 at $85.41 a barrel.