Japanese Market Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is slightly lower in choppy trading on Wednesday, giving up some of the gains in the previous two sessions, with the Nikkei 225 staying below the 27,700 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders remain cautious ahead of the US Fed's rate decision later in the day. The market is also digesting the Band of Japan's decision to maintain a negative interest rate of -0.1 percent.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 22.21 points or 0.08 percent at 27,656.71, after hitting a low of 27,546.88 earlier. Japanese stocks closed modestly higher on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging up 0.5 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging up 0.3 percent, while Toyota is edging down 0.3 percent.

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

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is gaining almost 1 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is adding more than 1 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging up 0.2 percent.

Among the major exporters, Sony is soaring almost 9 percent on better-than-expected third quarter earnings and Panasonic is surging almost 6 percent on better-than-expected second-quarter profit despite a decline in profit, while Mitsubishi Electric is edging up 0.3 percent. Canon is flat.

Among the other major losers, Kao is plunging more than 8 percent, CyberAgent is sliding more than 7 percent, Tokyo Electric Power is losing almost 5 percent, Sumitomo Chemical is slipping more than 4 percent and Nissan Chemical is down almost 3 percent.

Conversely, Nichirei is soaring more than 9 percent and NTN is surging almost 7 percent, while TDK and Yokogawa Electric are gaining almost 6 percent each. Sojitz is adding 5.5 percent and Nippon Steel is up more than 4 percent, while OKUMA and Inpex are advancing more than 3 percent each. Fujitsu, Marubeni, Fujikura, Mitsubishi Motors and Pacific Metals are all rising almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, members of the Bank of Japan's Monetary Policy Board feel that the country is continuing to recover from the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, minutes from the bank's September 21-22 monetary policy meeting revealed on Wednesday. At the meeting, the BoJ decided to maintain a negative interest rate of -0.1 percent on current accounts that financial institutions maintain at the central bank.

The monetary base in Japan dropped 6.9 percent on year in October, the Bank of Japan said on Wednesday - coming in at 615.262 trillion yen. That follows the 3.3 percent decline in September. Banknotes in circulation rose 2.9 percent on year, while coins in circulation fell 3.2 percent. Current account balances were down 9.0 percent on year, including a 10.3 percent drop in reserve balances. Seasonally adjusted, the monetary base plummeted 33.0 percent.

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

On Wall Street, stocks fell into the red after a positive start on Tuesday, and then stayed weak right till the end of the day's trading session to close on a negative note. Investors digested the latest batch of earnings updates and economic data, and looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement, due on Wednesday.

The major averages all fell after opening higher and ended in negative territory. The Dow ended down 79.75 points or 0.24 percent at 32,653.20, the S&P 500 settled at 3,856.10, down 15.88 points or 0.41 percent and the Nasdaq ended down 97.30 points or 0.89 percent at 10,890.85.

The major European markets moved higher on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 1.29 percent, Germany's DAX gained 0.64 percent, and France's CAC 40 surged 0.98 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Tuesday on a weak dollar, a reduction in OPEC crude output, an upward revision in oil demand forecast by OPEC, and record U.S. oil export data. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December jumped $1.84 or 2.1 percent at $88.37 a barrel.