The Japanese stock market is sharply lower on Wednesday, giving up the gains in the previous two sessions, with the Nikkei 225 dropping 500 points to be below the 27,300 mark, following the broadly negative cues overnight from Wall Street, and as traders digest the hawkish comments from the Federal Reserve on interest rate outlook. Technology stocks led the losses as it mirrored its peers on Nasdaq.
The escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the prospects of increasing stringent sanctions to be imposed on Russia by the Western countries rendered the mood cautious.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 499.76 points or 1.80 percent at 27,288.22, after hitting a low of 27,284.03 earlier. Japanese stocks closed slightly higher on Tuesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.5 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing almost 1 percent and Toyota is declining more than 1 percent.
In the tech space, Screen Holdings and Tokyo Electron are losing more than 3 percent each, while Advantest is declining almost 4 percent.
In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is gaining almost 1 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is adding more than 1 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging up 0.4 percent.
Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is losing more than 2 percent, Sony is declining almost 4 percent, Panasonic is down almost 3 percent and Canon is slipping almost 1 percent.
Among the other major losers, Denso is losing almost 4 percent, while Yamaha Motor, Taiyo Yuden, Nippon Yusen K.K., Teijin, Japan Steel Works and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha are declining more than 3 percent each. Kawasaki Heavy Industries, CyberAgent, Daikin Industries and Amada are down almost 3 percent each.
Conversely, Idemitsu Kosan is losing almost 4 percent, while Nikon, Chiba Bank and Dai-ichi Life are declining more than 2 percent each.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 123 yen-range on Wednesday.
On Wall Street, stocks moved significantly lower over the course of the trading day on Tuesday, offsetting the upward move seen over the two previous sessions. The major averages all moved to the downside, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq posting a particularly steep loss.
Selling pressure intensified in the final hour of trading, dragging the major averages down to new lows for the session. While the Nasdaq plunged 328.39 points or 2.3 percent to 14,204.17, the S&P 500 tumbled 57.52 points or 1.3 percent to 4,525.12 and the Dow slid 280.70 points or 0.8 percent to 34,641.18.
The major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 climbed 0.72 percent, while Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 slid 0.65 percent and 1.28 percent, respectively.
Crude oil futures pared early gains and drifted lower on Tuesday amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand due to a surge in coronavirus cases in China. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended down by $1.32 or about 1.3 percent at $101.96 a barrel, after having climbed above $105.00 a barrel earlier in the day.
Market Analysis
Japanese Market Sharply Lower
2022-04-06 02:26:38
