The Japanese stock market continued to experience significant losses on Thursday, following a downward trend from the previous two sessions and mirroring the negative cues from global markets. The Nikkei 225 fell dramatically below the 37,000 threshold, with weakness evident across most sectors, particularly among index heavyweights and technology stocks.
The Nikkei 225 Index dropped 629.91 points, or 1.63 percent, to 37,926.96, after touching a low of 37,617.00 earlier in the day. This follows a substantial decline in Japanese shares on Wednesday.
Among the market heavyweights, SoftBank Group saw a reduction of over 3 percent, while Fast Retailing, the operator of Uniqlo, decreased by almost 3 percent. In the automotive sector, Toyota declined nearly 2 percent, and Honda fell by over 1 percent.
Technology shares also faced severe losses: Advantest plunged more than 6 percent, Tokyo Electron lost over 3 percent, and Screen Holdings declined 1.5 percent.
In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, and Mizuho Financial each edged down between 0.2 and 0.5 percent.
Major exporters reflected similar negative trends: Canon lost over 1 percent, Mitsubishi Electric slipped almost 6 percent, while Panasonic and Sony each edged down between 0.2 and 0.4 percent.
Other significant losers included Terumo, Mitsubishi Electric, and Tokyo Electric Power, each plummeting more than 5 percent. Socionext dropped more than 4 percent, and Nissan Chemical fell nearly 4 percent. Ajinomoto, Fanuc, and Disco each declined by over 3 percent, while Eisai, JGC Holdings, and Itochu slipped almost 3 percent each.
Conversely, there were no notable gainers in the market.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar was trading in the lower 157 yen range on Thursday.
On Wall Street, stock indexes experienced a broad decline on Wednesday following mixed performance on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average notably fell to its lowest closing level in nearly a month. All major averages ended the day in negative territory, with the Dow dropping 411.32 points, or 1.1 percent, to 38,441.54. The S&P 500 slid 39.09 points, or 0.7 percent, to 5,266.95, and the Nasdaq fell 99.30 points, or 0.6 percent, to 16,920.58.
Similarly, major European markets moved downward. The French CAC 40 Index tumbled by 1.5 percent, the German DAX Index slumped by 1.1 percent, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.9 percent.
Crude oil prices also declined on Wednesday due to concerns about the outlook for interest rates and the potential negative impact of high borrowing costs on energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July decreased by $0.60 to $79.23 per barrel.
