The Japanese stock market is lower on Wednesday amid continued worries about the Greek debt crisis. Data showing that Japan logged a better-than-expected current account surplus in the month of May failed to boost sentiment.
Following the emergency eurozone summit in Brussels, European leaders on Tuesday gave debt-stricken Greece a final deadline of Sunday to reach a new bailout deal and avoid crashing out of the euro.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 331.62 or 1.63 to 20,044.97, off a low of 20,035.73 earlier.
Among the major exporters, Sony Corp. (SNE) is losing more than 1 percent, Panasonic is down more than 2 percent and Toshiba is declining almost 1 percent.
In the tech sector, Casio Computer is lower by almost 3 percent, Kyocera is declining more than 2 percent and Fanuc is down almost 2 percent.
Pretax profits at Japan's three major convenience store chains hit record highs during the quarter ended May. However, shares of Seven & I Holdings are down more than 1 percent, Lawson is losing almost 3 percent and FamilyMart is lower by more than 2 percent.
Among auto stocks, Toyota (TM) is declining 1 percent, while Suzuki and Mazda are lower by more than 2 percent.
In the banking space, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (MTU) and Mizuho Financial are down almost 2 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is lower by more than 2 percent.
Among the other major decliners, Itochu Corp is down more than 7 percent, Pacific Metals is declining almost 5 percent and Nissan Motor is lower by more than 4 percent.
On the economic front, the Ministry of Finance said that Japan posted a current account surplus of 1.880 trillion yen in May, surging 266.7 percent on year. The headline figure topped expectations for a surplus of 1.570 trillion yen following the 1.326 trillion yen surplus in April.
The trade balance reflected a deficit of 47.3 billion yen - also beating forecasts for a shortfall of 283.8 billion yen following the 146.2 billion yen shortfall in the previous month.
The Bank of Japan said that overall bank lending in Japan was up 2.5 percent on year in June, coming in at 487.773 trillion yen. That was in line with expectations, and down from the 2.6 percent increase in May.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the mid 122 yen range on Wednesday, down from Tuesday's close in the upper 122 yen-range in Tokyo.
On Wall Street, stocks showed a substantial turnaround on Tuesday, after falling sharply in early trading amid concerns about the ongoing Greek debt crisis. Selling pressure eventually waned due in part to optimism a deal could still be reached.
The Dow ended the day up 93.33 points or 0.5 percent to 17,776.91 after falling more than 200 points to its lowest intraday level in five months. The S&P 500 also climbed 12.58 points or 0.6 percent to 2,081.34, while the Nasdaq edged up 5.52 points or 0.1 percent to 4,997.46.
The major European markets all moved sharply lower on Tuesday as concerns over Greece continued to weigh on investor sentiment. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index tumbled by 1.6 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index plummeted by 2 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively.
U.S. crude oil ended lower for a fourth straight session on Tuesday, as the dollar trended higher against some major currencies and investors kept a close watch on the Iran nuclear agreement with talks reportedly extended until Friday.
Crude Oil futures for August delivery, the most actively traded contract, fell $0.20 or 0.4 percent, to settle at $52.33 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Tuesday.
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Market Analysis
May 22, 2026 14:46 ET Minutes of the latest Fed policy session was the highlight of the week along with survey data on the U.S. housing market. In Europe, survey data signaled the trends in the euro area private sector. Further, consumer price inflation data from the U.K. was in focus. In Asia, various economic indicators from China drew attention to the health of the economy.