The Japanese stock market is sharply lower on Wednesday, giving up most of the gains of the previous session, with the benchmark Nikkei index staying just above the 28,000 mark, following the negative cues overnight from Wall Street. Traders also continue to be cautious amid the accelerating daily coronavirus infection rates caused by highly contagious variants of the virus and the slow vaccine roll out.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 394.23 points or 1.39 percent to 28,012.61, after hitting a low of 27,842.98 in early trades. Japanese stocks closed sharply higher on Tuesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is down more than 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing more than 1 percent and Toyota is down almost 1 percent.
In the tech space, Tokyo Electron is losing more than 1 percent and Advantest is down almost 2 percent, while Screen Holdings is edging up 0.3 percent. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging down 0.2 percent, while Mizuho Financial is edging up 0.4 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is gaining more than 1 percent.
Among the major exporters, Panasonic and Canon are edging down 0.3 percent, while Sony is gaining almost 1 percent. Mitsubishi Electric is flat.
Among the other major losers, Fujikura is losing almost 4 percent, while Dentsu, Mitsui Chemicals and Rakutan are down more than 3 percent each. Daikin Industries, Nippon Light Metal, TDK, Teijin, Credit Saison, Takara Holdings and Idemitsu Kosan are all declining almost 3 percent each. Kubota, Tokyu, Toyota Tsusho and Marui Group are losing more than 2 percent each.
Conversely, Mitsubishi Chemical is gaining more than 4 percent and Japan Steel works is adding almost 4 percent, while Kajima, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha and Trend Micro are up more than 2 percent each. Taisei and Nippon Yusen are rising almost 2 percent each.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 108 yen-range on Wednesday.
On Wall Street, stocks failed to hold early gains and ended weak on Tuesday as disappointing data on housing starts, and a sell-off in the technology section weighed on the market. Investors looked ahead to the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's April monetary policy meeting for clues about monetary tightening.
The Dow ended down by 267.13 points or 0.78 percent at 34,060.66, after having advanced to 34,408.99 in early trades. The Nasdaq, which rose to 14,485.34, settled at 13,303.64, recording a loss of 75.41 points or 0.56 percent, while the S&P 500 slid 35.46 points or 0.85 percent to settle at 4,127.83.
The major European also failed to hold early gains and closed mixed on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged up 0.02 percent , Germany's DAX shed 0.07 percent and France's CAC 40 ended 0.21 percent down.
Crude oil futures settled lower Tuesday, weighed down by signs of progress in the Iran nuclear talks. Traders were also weighing global energy demand prospects amid the continued surge in coronavirus cases in Asian countries. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended lower by $0.78 or 1.2 percent at $65.49 a barrel.
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