Japanese Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is sharply lower on Thursday, extending the losses in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 falling below the 27,700 level, following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight, with the Yen dropping to a fresh 24-year low and threatening to breach the key psychological level of 140.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 453.83 points or 1.62 percent to 27,637.70, after hitting a low of 27,606.22 earlier. Japanese stocks closed modestly lower on Wednesday.

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

In the tech space, Screen Holdings is losing more than 3 percent, Tokyo Electron is declining 2.5 percent and Advantest is slipping more than 4 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are losing almost 1 percent each, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging down 0.4 percent.

Among the major exporters, Canon is losing more than 2 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is declining almost 3 percent, Sony is down more than 1 percent and Panasonic is slipping almost 1 percent.

Among the other major losers, Mitsui Mining & Smelting is losing almost 5 percent and Unitika is declining more than 4 percent, while Pacific Metals, Yokogawa Electric, Osaka Gas, Toto, Mitsubishi, BANDAI NAMCO and Marubeni are all down more than 3 percent each. Sumitomo Metal Mining, Denso, TDK and Itochu are declining almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Sekisui House is gaining almost 5 percent, while Konami Group and Japan Steel Works are adding almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Japan continued to expand in August, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from Jibun Bank revealed on Thursday with a manufacturing PMI score of 51.5. That's down from 52.1 in July, although it remains above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the mid-139 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks came under pressure over the course of the trading day on Wednesday, extending the notable downward move seen in the past few sessions. The major averages showed a lack of direction early in the session but eventually slid firmly into negative territory.

The major averages saw further downside going into the close, ending the session at their worst levels of the day. The Dow slid 280.44 points or 0.9 percent to 31,510.43, the Nasdaq fell 66.93 points or 0.6 percent to 11,816.20 and the S&P 500 dropped 31.16 points or 0.8 percent to 3,955.00.

The major European markets all also moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index tumbled by 1.4 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index slumped by 1.1 percent and 1.0 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices saw further downside on Wednesday, extending recent losses on concerns about the outlook for the global economy after the Eurozone's record high inflation report. West Texas Intermediate for October delivery tumbled $2.09 or 2.3 percent to $89.55 a barrel.