Japanese Market Sharply Lower | Nasdaq

(RTTNews) – The Japanese stock market is sharply lower on Wednesday, giving up some of the gains in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark Nikkei index losing almost 500 points to fall below the 27,400 level, following the broadly negative cues overnight from Wall Street, amid the escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and stringent sanctions imposed on Russia by the Western countries.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 487.45 points or 1.82 percent at 26,357.27, after hitting a low of 26,346.18 earlier. Japanese stocks closed sharply higher on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing more than 3 percent and Toyota is declining almost 3 percent after new that its CEO Satoshi Tsunakawa has stepped down.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings is losing more than 1 percent, while Advantest and Tokyo Electron are declining more than 2 percent each.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is losing almost 2 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are declining more than 2 percent each.

Among the major exporters, Canon is losing more than 2 percent and Panasonic is slipping more than 3 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric and Sony are declining more than 1 percent each.

Among the other major losers, T&D Holdings is slipping almost 6 percent, Bridgestone is losing more than 5 percent and Taiheiyo Cement is down almost 5 percent, while Dai-ichi Life Holdings and Tokyu Fudosan are sliding more than 3 percent each. Fanuc, Toto and Chiba Bank are declining almost 4 percent each, while Ricoh, Nissan Motor, Asahi Kasei, DIC, Concordia Financial, Fujikura and Honda Motor are all down more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, Pacific Metals is soaring more than 10 percent, Inpex is surging almost 7 percent, Toho Zinc is gaining almost 5 percent, Dowa Holdings is adding more than 4 percent, NEXON is up more than 3 percent and Sumitomo Metal Mining is rising almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the 115 yen-range on Wednesday.

On Wall Street, stocks stocks reeled under sustained selling pressure and ended firmly down in negative territory on Tuesday amid rising concerns about growth due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and a raft of sanctions imposed on Russia by the U.S. and Western allies.

The market stayed weak right through the day’s session and the major averages all ended with sharp losses. The Dow ended down by 597.65 points or 1.65 percent at 33,294.95. The S&P 500 drifted down 67.68 points or 1.55 percent to 4,306.26 and the Nasdaq finished with a loss of 218.94 points or 1.59 percent.

The major European markets also ended sharply lower today. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 shed 1.72 percent, Germany’s DAX tumbled 3.85 percent and France’s CAC 40 fell 3.94 percent.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Tuesday as an escalation in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and a raft of sanctions imposed on Russia raised concerns about global oil supplies. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended higher by $7.69 or 8 percent at $103.41 a barrel, the highest settlement since July 2014.

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