Japanese Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading notably lower on Tuesday, extending the losses in the previous two sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with the Nikkei 225 falling well below the 65,050 level, with weakness across most sectors led by automakers and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 500.19 points or 0.76 percent at 65,027.90, after hitting a low of 64,609.47 earlier. Japanese shares ended notably lower on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging up 0.2 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.3 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing more than 2 percent and Toyota is down almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is declining more than 4 percent, Tokyo Electron is losing more than 1 percent and Screen Holdings is down almost 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is gaining almost 1 percent and Mizuho Financial is edging up 0.2 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is flat.

The major exporters are mostly lower. Mitsubishi Electric is losing more than 1 percent and Panasonic is declining more than 3 percent, while Canon and Sony are edging down 0.1 to 0.2 percent each.

Among the other major losers, Yokohama Rubber is losing more than 3 percent, while Disco, Toppan Holdings and SMC are down almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Furukawa Electric is jumping almost 9 percent and Fujikura is gaining almost 4 percent, while Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha and East Japan Railway are adding almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 159 yen-range on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading day on Monday but largely maintained a negative bias, after coming under pressure early in the session. The tech-heavy Nasdaq showed a notable decline on the day, ending the session at its lowest closing level in three weeks.

The Nasdaq ended the day off its early lows but still closed down 200.26 points or 0.8 percent at 25,980.19. The S&P 500 also fell 21.51 points or 0.3 percent to 7,652.86. Meanwhile, the narrower Dow bucked the downtrend and rose 140.15 points or 0.3 percent to 53,417.16

The major European markets also turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.4 percent, the German DAX Index edged down by 0.1 percent and the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices slumped on Monday after the U.S. unleashed a massive economic offensive against Iran to compel the nation to strike a deal. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was down $2.13 or 2.45 percent at $84.93 per barrel.