The Japanese stock market is sharply lower on Wednesday, giving up the gains in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 staying above the 27,200 level, following the broadly negative cues overnight from Wall Street, with technology stocks mirroring their peers on Nasdaq. Traders are also concerned about a slowdown in top commodities consumer China and aggressive global interest rate hikes.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 472.89 points or 1.77 percent at 26,227.22, after hitting a low of 26,051.04 earlier. Japanese stocks closed modestly higher on Tuesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is down more than 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing more than 2 percent and Toyota is edging down 0.4 percent.
In the tech space, Screen Holdings and Tokyo Electron are losing more than 3 percent each, while Advantest is declining more than 1 percent.
In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is losing almost 1 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are down more than 1 percent each.
Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is losing almost 2 percent, while Sony and Panasonic are down more than 1 percent each. Canon is edging up 0.5 percent.
Among the other major losers, Fanuc is plunging more than 7 percent and Japan Exchange Group is slipping almost 6 percent, while CyberAgent, Recruit Holdings, Nomura Holdings and Alps Alpine are declining almost 5 percent each. M3 and Olympus are down more than 4 percent each, while Fuji Electric, Yokohama Rubber, Taiyo Yuden, TDK, Hino Motors, Nitto Denko and AGC are losing more than 3 percent each.
Conversely, Sapporo Holdings is soaring almost 8 percent, Osaka Gas is surging more than 6 percent, Asahi Group is advancing more than 5 percent, Isetan Mitsukoshi is gaining more than 4 percent and Kirin Holdings is up almost 4 percent, while Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Takashimaya and Nippon Yusen K.K. are rising more than 3 percent each. Mitsubishi Motors and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines are adding almost 3 percent each.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the mid-127 yen-range on Wednesday.
On Wall Street, stocks showed a substantial move back to the downside during trading on Tuesday after recovering from an early sell-off in the previous session. The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the way lower, plunging to its lowest closing level in over a year, while the Dow and the S&P 500 tumbled to one-month closing lows.
The major averages fell to new lows for the day going into the close of trading. The Dow dove 809.28 points or 2.4 percent to 33,240.19, the Nasdaq plummeted 514.11 points or 4 percent to 12,490.74 and the S&P 500 slumped 120.92 points or 2.8 percent to 4,175.20.
European stocks also moved mostly lower over the course of the session. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index bucked the downtrend and inched up by 0.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.5 percent and the German DAX Index plunged by 1.2 percent.
Crude oil prices moved higher Tuesday as concerns about outlook for energy demand eased after the Chinese central bank said that it would support small businesses and industries affected by the pandemic. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $3.16 or 3.2 percent at $101.70 a barrel.
Market Analysis
Japanese Market Sharply Lower
2022-04-27 02:25:42
