TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is trading sharply lower on Wednesday, reversing the strong gains in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling more than 3 percent to below the 32,000 mark, with weakness across all sectors led by technology and financial stocks.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 1,038.31 or 3.15 percent at 31,974.27, after hitting a low of 31,708.21 earlier. Japanese stocks ended slightly higher on Tuesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is slipping almost 6 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing more than 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing almost 3 percent and Toyota is down almost 2 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is plunging almost 8 percent, Tokyo Electron is declining almost 4 percent and Screen Holdings is losing almost 3 percent.
In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is sliding more than 5 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is declining more than 4 percent and Mizuho Financial is slipping almost 5 percent.
Among the major exporters, Canon is losing almost 2 percent, Mitsubishi Electric slipping 2.5 percent, Sony is declining more than 3 percent and Panasonic is down almost 3 percent.
Among other major losers, Toray Industries is plummeting more than 12 percent, while Sumitomo Pharma and Konica Minolta are plunging more than 8 percent each. Teijin and Mitsubishi Chemical are sliding almost 8 percent each, while Dentsu Group and Disco are declining more than 7 percent each. Furukawa Electric, Fujikura, Lasertec, Sumitomo Electric and Kawasaki Heavy Industries are slipping almost 7 percent each, while Credit Saison and DeNA are losing more than 6 percent each.
Conversely, there are no other major gainers.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 145 yen-range on Wednesday.
On the Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher early in the session on Tuesday but showed a substantial downturn over the course of the trading day. The major averages pulled back well off their highs of the session and tumbled firmly into negative territory.
The major averages climbed off their worst levels going into the close but still posted significant losses on the day. The Nasdaq plunged 335.35 points or 2.2 percent to 15,267.91, the S&P 500 slumped 79.48 points or 1.6 percent to 4,982.77 and the Dow slid 320.01 points or 0.8 percent to 37,645.59.
Meanwhile, the major European markets showed strong moves back to the upside. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index shot up by 2.7 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index both surged by 2.5 percent.
Crude oil prices once again came under pressure over the course of the trading day on Tuesday after showing a strong move to the upside early in the session. West Texas Intermediate for May delivery tumbled $1.12 or 1.9 percent to $59.58 a barrel, its lowest level since April 2021.
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