TOKYO
(dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is down sharply on Wednesday, with the weak cues from Wall Street and further fall in crude oil prices denting investor sentiment. Amid diminished risk appetite, the safe-haven yen strengthened and weighed on exporters' stocks.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is declining 565.41 points or 3.19 percent to 17,185.27, off a low of 17,080.57 earlier.
Among the major exporters, Toshiba is lower by more than 3 percent, Panasonic is down more than 5 percent. Canon and Sony are losing almost 3 percent each.
Casio Computer reported an increase in profit for the nine-month period, but its shares are falling more than 12 percent.
Mazda Motor said its
U.S.
sales for the month of January declined 2.8 percent, while
Toyota's
U.S.
sales decreased 4.7 percent. Shares of
Mazda are down almost 8 percent and
Toyota shares are losing almost 5 percent.
In the banking space, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is losing more than 3 percent and Resona Holdings is lower by more than 2 percent.
Nomura Holdings reported a 49 percent decline in profit for the third quarter and its shares are losing more than 11 percent.
Oil stocks Inpex is lower by 3 percent and JX Holdings is down almost 3 percent.
Among the other major losers, IHI Corp. is down almost 19 percent, Kobe Steel is losing more than 13 percent and Tosoh Corp is lower by more than 8 percent.
On the economic front,
Japan
will see January results for the services and composite PMIs from
Nikkei as well as January results for its consumer confidence index.
In the currency market, the
U.S.
dollar traded in the upper
119 yen-level on Wednesday, down from Tuesday's close in the upper
120 yen-range in
Tokyo
.
On Wall Street, stocks closed sharply lower amid a notable decrease in the price of crude oil. The steep drop may have been exaggerated by light trading activity, as some traders remained on the sidelines amid a lack of major
U.S.
economic news.
The Dow plunged 295.64 points or 1.8 percent to 16,153.54, the Nasdaq tumbled 103.42 points or 2.2 percent to 4,516.95 and the S&P 500 plummeted 36.35 points or 1.9 percent to 1,903.03.
The major European markets showed more substantial moves to the downside on Tuesday. While the German DAX Index tumbled by 1.8 percent, the
U.K.'s
FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC Index plunged by 2.3 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively.
Crude oil futures tumbled below $30 a barrel Tuesday amid renewed speculation that global oil inventories will continue to mount. Crude for March delivery tumbled $1.74 or 5.5 percent to $29.88 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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