Japanese Market Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is slightly lower on Wednesday, extending the losses in the previous four sessions, with the Nikkei 225 staying below the 26,600 level, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, extending the sharp selloff in the second half of Tuesday after a surprise policy shift from the Bank of Japan.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 8.08 points or 0.03 percent at 26,559.95, after hitting a low of 26,269.80 earlier. Japanese stocks closed sharply lower on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging up 0.1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing 2.5 percent and Toyota is declining almost 3 percent.

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

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is surging more than 5 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is soaring more than 7 percent and Mizuho Financial is gaining more than 3 percent.

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

Among the other major losers, Tokyo Tatemono is losing more than 4 percent and Subaru is down almost 4 percent, while Nissan Motor, Suzuki Motor, Tokyu Fudosan, Fujikura and Taiyo Yuden are slipping more than 3 percent. Hino Motors, Alps Alpine, Mazda Motor, TDK, Marui Group, Furukawa Electric and NTN are declining almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Concordia Financial is gaining more than 4 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Trust and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha are adding almost 4 percent each. T&D Holdings, Chiba Bank and Resona Holdings are up almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 132 yen-range on Wednesday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved modestly higher over the course of the trading session on Tuesday after recovering from an early move to the downside. The major averages climbed well off their early lows and into positive territory.

The major averages all finished the day in the green, although the tech-heavy Nasdaq was little changed, inching up 1.08 points or 0.1 percent to 10,547.11. The Dow rose 92.20 points or 0.3 percent to 32,849.74 and the S&P 500 crept up 3.96 points or 0.1 percent to 3,821.62.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index inched up by 0.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index both fell by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil bounced higher on Tuesday thanks to an improving demand outlook and a slightly weaker dollar. West Texas Intermediate rose $0.83 or 1.10 percent to $76.02 per barrel.