The Japanese stock market is sharply lower on Monday after the holiday on Friday, giving up the gains in the previous three sessions, with the Nikkei 225 plunging more than 700 points to fall below the 27,000 mark, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, on weakness across most sectors as traders react now to the U.S. inflation data and over a possible Russian invasion on Ukraine.
Traders also remain concerned about the domestic coronavirus cases, though the daily new cases are on a steady decline over the weekend.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 717.48 points or 2.59 percent at 26,978.60, after hitting a low of 26,947.65 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly higher on Thursday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 4 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is declining more than 3 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing more than 1 percent and Toyota is slipping almost 4 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is losing more than 4 percent, Tokyo Electron is declining almost 2 percent and Screen Holdings is down almost 4 percent. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial are losing almost 1 percent each, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is adding almost 1 percent.
The major exporters are lower, with Panasonic losing more than 1 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric, Sony and Canon are declining almost 2 percent each.
Among the other major losers, Bridgestone is plunging almost 10 percent, M2 is slipping almost 8 percent, Amada is sliding almost 7 percent and Keyence is down almost 6 percent, while Murata Manufacturing and Terumo are losing 5.5 percent each. Z Holdings, FUJIFILM Holdings, Fujikura and NTT Data are declining almost 5 percent each. Trend Micro, Daikin Industries, Yokohama Rubber and Japan Steel Works are down more than 4 percent each.
Conversely, Inpex is surging more than 6 percent, Toho Zinc is gaining almost 5 percent and Citizen Watch is adding more than 4 percent, while Kajima and Haseko are up more than 3 percent each.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 115 yen-range on Monday.
On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the trading day on Friday, extending the sell-off seen in the previous session. The major averages fluctuated early in the session but showed a substantial move to the downside as the day progressed.
The major averages all posted steep losses on the day, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the way lower. While the Nasdaq plummeted 394.49 points or 2.8 percent to 13,791.15, the Dow slumped 503.53 points or 1.4 percent to 34,738.06 and the S&P 500 tumbled 85.44 points or 1.9 percent to 4,418.64.
The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index tumbled by 1.3 percent, the German DAX Index fell by 0.4 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index dipped by 0.2 percent.
Crude oil prices rose sharply on Friday following a report from the International Energy Agency that said oil production from OPEC was significantly below target in January. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $3.22 or 3.6 percent at $93.10 a barrel, a fresh seven-year closing high.
Market Analysis
Japanese Market Sharply Lower
2022-02-14 02:38:23
