Japanese Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading notably lower on Wednesday, extending the losses in the previous two sessions, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling well below the 68,000 mark, with weakness in automaker stocks and a mixed performance across most other sectors.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 279.24 or 0.41 percent at 67,977.72, after hitting a low of 67,122.49 earlier. Japanese stocks ended sharply lower on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is declining almost 3 percent and Toyota is losing almost 2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is edging up 0.3 percent, while Tokyo Electron and Screen Holdings are losing more than 1 percent each.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are edging up 0.2 to 0.3 percent each, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is losing almost 1 percent.

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is losing more than 1 percent, while Canon and Sony are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each. Panasonic is advancing almost 1 percent.

Among other major losers, IHI and Taisei are declining more than 4 percent each, while Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Renesas Electronics and Kajima are losing almost 4 percent each. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ebara, Hitachi, Fanuc, Furukawa Electric, Toto, Yokohama Rubber, Suzuki Motor and Shimizu are slipping more than 3 percent each, while Disco is losing almost 3 percent.

Conversely, Takashimaya is gaining more than 3 percent and J. Front Retailing is adding almost 3 percent.

In economic news, the value of overall bank lending in Japan was up 5.7 percent on year in June, the Bank of Japan said on Wednesday - coming in at 676.138 trillion yen. That missed forecasts for an of a 5.8 growth percent and was unchanged from the May reading.

Excluding trusts, lending jumped 6.3 percent on year to 596.463 trillion yen, while lending from trusts rose 1.7 percent for the second straight month to 7.328 trillion yen. Lending from foreign banks surged 27.9 percent on year to 7.328 trillion yen.

Meanwhile, Japan posted a current account surplus of $3.968 trillion yen in May, the Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday. That missed expectations for a surplus of 4.121 trillion yen and was up from 3.908 trillion yen in April.

Exports were up 14.7 percent on year at 9.360 trillion yen and imports rose an annual 8.1 percent to 9.353 trillion yen for a trade surplus of 6.9 billion yen. The capital account saw a deficit of 15.5 billion yen, while the financial account had a surplus of 5.086 trillion yen.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 162 yen-range on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks staged a recovery attempt in mid-day trading on Tuesday but moved back to the downside as the day progressed after coming under pressure early in the session. The major averages all finished the day in negative territory, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq showing a notable decline.

The Nasdaq tumbled 302.47 points or 1.2 percent to 25,818.69, the S&P 500 fell 33.58 points or 0.5 percent to 7,503.85 and the Dow dipped 130.76 points or 0.3 percent to 52,925.15. The major European markets all also moved to the downside on the day. The German DAX Index slumped by 1.4 percent and the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.5 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index bucked the downtrend and inched up by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices spiked on Tuesday as concerns of fresh U.S.-Iran conflicts surfaced after attacks on at least three tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery was up $2.01 or 2.93 percent at $70.56 per barrel.