Japanese Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is modestly lower on Wednesday after opening in the green, reversing the gains in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling to near the 39,600 level, with a mixed performance is most sectors.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 71.15 or 0.18 percent at 39,617.66, after touching a high of 39,971.06 and a low of 39,595.96 earlier. Japanese stocks ended modestly higher on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is adding more than 3 percent and Toyota is gaining more than 2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is declining more than 1 percent and Tokyo Electron is losing almost 1 percent, while Screen Holdings is edging up 0.4 percent.

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

Among the major exporters, Canon is edging up 0.5 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is gaining almost 1 percent, while Panasonic and Sony are losing almost 1 percent each.

Among other major losers, Fujitsu is losing more than 4 percent, while Konami Group and Nissan Motor are declining almost 4 percent each. Furukawa Electric is down more than 3 percent, while Sumitomo Electric Industries and Fujikura are slipping almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Omron is soaring 7.5 percent, Sumitomo Pharma is gaining more than 6 percent and Sumco is adding more than 5 percent, while Casio Computer and Nissan Chemical are advancing almost 5 percent each. Renesas Electronics is up almost 4 percent and Comsys Holdings is rising more than 3 percent, while Idemitsu Kosan and ENEOS Holdings are gaining almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, the M2 money stock was up 0.9 percent on year in June, the Bank of Japan said on Wednesday - coming in at 1,268.4 trillion yen. That topped expectations for an annual increase of 0.2 percent and was up from 0.6 percent in May.

The M3 money stock rose 0.4 percent to 1,616.2 trillion yen, accelerating from 0.2 percent in the previous month. The L money stock was up 1.5 percent for the second straight month, this time coming in at 2,204.8 trillion yen.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 146 yen-range on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Tuesday following the sharp pullback seen during Monday's session. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing narrowly mixed.

While the tech-heavy Nasdaq inched up 5.95 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 20,418.46, the S&P 500 edged down 4.46 points or 0.1 percent to 6,225.52 and the Dow fell 165.60 points or 0.4 percent to 44,240.76.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed 0.5 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index both increased by 0.6 percent.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Tuesday on concerns over disruptions to the oil supply lines due to Houthi attacks. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery closed up by $0.40 at $68.33 per barrel.