The Japanese stock market experienced a sharp decline on Tuesday, extending the minor losses from the previous day. The Nikkei 225 fell to slightly above the 38,400 mark, influenced by mixed signals from Wall Street overnight and a broad-based sectoral weakness, particularly among major index constituents and technology stocks.
The Nikkei 225 Index dropped 549.66 points, or 1.41%, standing at 38,404.94, after reaching a low of 38,200.82 earlier in the session. Japanese stocks had ended marginally lower on Monday.
Key market players such as SoftBank Group are down by nearly 2%, and Fast Retailing, the operator of Uniqlo, has declined over 2%. In the automotive sector, Honda is down nearly 1%, whereas Toyota has risen by 0.3%.
In the technology sector, Advantest fell nearly 2%, Screen Holdings declined by 1.5%, and Tokyo Electron decreased by more than 2%.
In banking, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, and Mizuho Financial each saw losses of over 1%.
Major exporters, primarily witnessed declines. Mitsubishi Electric fell by over 2%, Panasonic by more than 1%, and Sony by almost 1%. In contrast, Canon rose slightly by 0.3%.
Among other significant declining stocks, M3 decreased by over 4%, Ebara by nearly 4%, and both Ryohin Keikaku and Toto fell by over 3%. Minebea Mitsumi, Mercari, Tokyo Tatemono, Socionext, Mitsubishi Electric, Renesas Electronics, and Keisei Electric Railway each declined by almost 3%.
There were no significant gainers reported.
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 150 yen range as of Tuesday.
On Wall Street, the stock market delivered a mixed performance on Monday, following recent gains. The Dow saw a significant decline, while the tech-driven Nasdaq managed to close in positive territory. The Dow decreased by 344.31 points or 0.8% to 42,931.60, the S&P 500 slipped by 10.69 points or 0.2% to 5,853.98, whereas the Nasdaq increased by 50.45 points or 0.3% to 18,540.01.
Furthermore, the major European markets all faced declines during this session. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index decreased by 0.5%, and both the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index fell by 1.0%.
In commodities, crude oil prices rose on Monday due to potential supply disruptions stemming from escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for November rose by $1.34 or 1.94%, closing at $70.56 per barrel.
