Japanese Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is sharply lower in choppy trading on Wednesday, giving up the gains in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 falling below the 31,900 level, following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight, with weakness across most sectors, led by exporters and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 369.69 or 1.15 percent at 31,869.20, after hitting a low of 31,784.91 earlier. Japanese stocks ended notably higher on Tuesday.

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

In the tech space, Screen Holdings is edging up 0.1 percent and Advantest is advancing almost 1 percent, while Tokyo Electron is losing almost 1 percent.

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

Among the major exporters, Canon and Sony are losing almost 1 percent each, while and Mitsubishi Electric is declining more than 1 percent. Panasonic is edging up 0.1 percent.

Among the other major losers, Nippon Sheet Glass is declining more than 5 percent, while Sharp, Dai-ichi Life, Idemitsu Kosan, Olympus and Japan Steel Works are losing more than 3 percent each. Sumitomo Pharma, Nissan Chemical, JGC Holdings, Mitsui E&S, Nippon Express, Hino Motors, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Sumitomo Chemical and Konica Minolta are down almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Kuraray and Kajima are gaining almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 145 yen-range on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks languished in the red right through the day's session and eventually ended on a weak note on Tuesday after a gap down opening and a subsequent fall to lower levels.

The major averages all ended notably lower. The Dow ended with a loss of 361.24 points or 1.02 percent at 34,946.39. The S&P 500 ended down 51.86 points or 1.16 percent at 4,437.86, and the Nasdaq settled at 13,631.05, recording a loss of 157.28 points or 1.14 percent.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 dropped 1.57 percent, Germany's DAX drifted down 0.86 percent, and France's CAC 40 fell 1.1 percent.

Crude oil prices fell sharply Tuesday on concerns about the outlook for energy demand following a batch of weak economic data from China. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September sank $1.52 or 1.8 percent at $80.99 a barrel.