The Japanese stock market is declining on Tuesday and the safe-haven yen strengthened following the overnight sell-off on Wall Street amid worries about a resurgence in coronavirus cases in the U.S. as well as Europe and on fading hopes for U.S. stimulus before next week's presidential elections.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 74.42 points or 0.32 percent to 23,419.92, after touching a low of 23,232.31 in early trades. Japanese stocks closed little changed on Monday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is adding 0.3 percent, while Fast Retailing is down 0.5 percent.
The major exporters are mixed on a stronger yen. Canon is gaining more than 5 percent after the company raised its financial outlook for fiscal 2020 despite reporting a 37 percent decrease in third-quarter profit.
Sony is edging up 0.1 percent, while Panasonic is declining 0.6 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is down 0.3 percent.
In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are declining almost 1 percent each. Among automakers, Honda is lower by more than 1 percent and Toyota is edging down 0.1 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is declining almost 1 percent and Tokyo Electron is down 0.5 percent.
Among the other major gainers, M3 is rising almost 4 percent, Cyberagent is higher by more than 2 percent and Yamato Holdings is advancing almost 2 percent.
Conversely, Alps Alpine is losing more than 4 percent, NTN Corp. is lower by almost 4 percent, and Mitsui E&S Holdings is declining more than 3 percent.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the upper 104 yen-range on Tuesday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed sharply lower on Monday amid concerns about a resurgence in coronavirus cases, with new infections reaching a new record high last Friday. The spike in new coronavirus cases comes as lawmakers in Washington appear to remain at an impasse over a new stimulus bill. Negotiations continue, but traders appear pessimistic that an agreement on a new relief package will be reached before next week's elections.
The Dow plunged 650.19 points or 2.3 percent to 27,685.38, the Nasdaq slumped 189.34 points or 1.6 percent to 11,358.94 and the S&P 500 tumbled 64.42 points or 1.9 percent to 3,400.97.
The major European also moved to the downside on Monday. The German DAX Index plunged by 3.7 percent, while the French CAC 40 Index slumped by 1.9 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 1.2 percent.
Crude oil futures fell to their lowest level in three weeks on Monday as rising worries about the outlook for energy demand weighed on prices. WTI crude for December ended down $1.29 or about 3.2 percent at $38.56 a barrel, the lowest close since October 2.
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