Japanese Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is sharply lower on Wednesday, giving up some of the gains in the previous two sessions, with the Nikkei 225 falling a tad below the 32,900 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with weakness across most sectors, led by index heavyweights and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 489.91 or 1.46 percent at 32,986.67, after hitting a low of 32,950.49 earlier. Japanese stocks ended significantly higher on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is declining more than 3 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging up 0.4 percent and Toyota is gaining almost 4 percent.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings and Tokyo Electron are losing more than 2 percent each, while Advantest is declining more than 3 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging up 0.1 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is gaining almost 1 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is edging down 0.5 percent.

Among the major exporters, Canon and Mitsubishi Electric are edging up 0.4 percent each, while Panasonic is declining 1.5 percent and Sony is losing almost 1 percent.

Among the other major losers, Konica Minolta is plummeting almost 10 percent, Nomura Holdings is plunging more than 7 percent, Hitachi Zosen is sliding almost 5 percent and Sumitomo Pharma is declining more than 5 percent, while Sompo Holdings, T&D Holdings and Tokyo Electric Power are slipping more than 4 percent each. Tokio Marine Holdings and MS&AD Insurance Group are losing almost 4 percent each, while M3 and Astellas Pharma are down more than 3 percent each, while Kansai Electric Power is losing almost 3 percent.

Conversely, Fujikura is gaining almost 5 percent and Hitachi Construction Machinery is adding more than 3 percent, while Mitsui E&S, Sumitomo Electric, Fuji Electric and Furukawa Electric are advancing almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, members of the Bank of Japan's Monetary Policy Board said that the country's economy has picked up, minutes from the board's meeting on June 15 and 16 revealed on Wednesday. Despite higher commodity prices, the economy is expected to recover by the middle of fiscal year 2023, the minutes said - although many uncertainties, especially from overseas, remain.

The members said they intend to keep the current level of monetary easing in place until inflation hits the central bank's target of 2 percent. At the meeting, the BoJ unanimously voted to maintain a negative interest rate of 0.1 percent on current accounts that financial institutions maintain at the central bank.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 143 yen-range on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks saw modest weakness to kick off the month of August following a strong July. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 moved to the downside, although the narrower Dow managed to finish the day in positive territory.

The Nasdaq slid 62.11 points or 0.4 percent to 14,283.91 and the S&P 500 fell 12.23 points or 0.3 percent to 4,576.73, but the Dow rose 71.15 points or 0.2 percent to 35,630.68, its best closing level in well over a year.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index tumbled by 1.2 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.

Crude oil futures ended lower on Tuesday thanks to a firm dollar and data showing a slowdown in global manufacturing activity. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended lower by $0.43 at $81.37 a barrel.