Japanese Market Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is slightly lower in choppy trading on Wednesday, giving up the slight gains in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 staying above the 27,400 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, dragged by weakness in technology and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 33.80 or 0.12 percent at 27,411.76, after hitting a low of 27,305.37 earlier. Japanese stocks ended slightly higher on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is flat, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is up more than 1 percent and Toyota is edging up 0.3 percent.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings and Advantest are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Tokyo Electron is edging up 0.2 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is losing more than 1 percent, Mizuho Financial is down almost 1 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is declining almost 2 percent.

Among the major exporters, Canon and Mitsubishi Electric are edging down 0.2 percent each, while Sony and Panasonic are losing almost 1 percent each.

Among the other major losers, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and Nippon Yusen K.K. are losing almost 4 percent each, while Casio Computer and Mitsui Fudosan are declining almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Ajinomoto is soaring more than 11 percent, Pacific Metals is gaining more than 4 percent, Hitachi Construction Machinery is adding more than 3 percent and Nippon Express Holdings is advancing almost 3 percent.

In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Japan continued to contract in February, and at a faster rate, the latest survey from Jibun Bank revealed on Wednesday with a PMI score of 47.7. That's down from 48.9, and it moves further beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 136 yen-range on Wednesday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Tuesday after ending the previous session modestly higher. The major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing in negative territory.

The Dow slid 232.39 points or 0.7 percent to 32,656.70, ending the session at its lowest closing level in well over three months. The S&P 500 fell 12.09 points or 0.3 percent to 3,970.15, while the Nasdaq edged down 11.44 points or 0.1 percent to 11,455.54.

Meanwhile, the major European markets are turning in a mixed performance on the day. While the German DAX Index is up by 0.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.8 percent.

Crude oil prices showed a strong move back to the upside on Tuesday following the pullback a day earlier, thanks to optimism about increased demand from China. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery surged $1.37 or 1.8 percent to $77.05 a barrel.