The Japanese stock market is down sharply in the red on Wednesday with investors going on a selling spree amid rising concerns about the global economy. A stronger yen is also contributing to the decline.
Automobile, banking, pharmaceuticals, electric power, foods and retail stocks are mostly down with notable losses. Steel, non-ferrous metals and chemicals stocks are also trading weak.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index is down 217.9 points or 2.28% at 9,333.2 at present.
Among Nikkei stocks, only a couple of stocks, Yokogawa Electric and Panasonic Electric, are trading in positive territory at present.
Pacific Metals, the biggest loser in the index, is down as much as 6.75%. Sumco Corp., Nisshin Steel, JFE Holdings, Nissan Chemicals, Mitsui Chemicals, Hino Motors, Sumitomo Chemicals, Credit Saison, Mitsubishi Estate, Casio Computer, TDK Corp, Sharp Corp., CSK Holdings, Nippon Soda and Asahi Glass are down 3%-4.5%.
Bank stocks Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Chiba Bank, Bank of Yokohama, Mizuho Financial and Sumitomo Trust & Banking are all down with sharp losses.
On the economic front, core machinery orders in Japan climbed a seasonally adjusted 1.6% on month in June to 704.0 billion yen, the Cabinet Office said Wednesday. However, it was well below forecasts for a 5.4% increase following the 9.1% plunge in May.
Non-manufacturing orders were down 3.9% on month, while government orders surged 26.3%, overseas orders added 2.4% and orders from agencies climbed 9.5%. Total machine orders, including volatile ones for ships and electric power companies, were up 9.2% on month.
On an annual basis, machine orders declined 2.2% in June, again missing forecasts for a 1.5% expansion after climbing 4.3% in the previous month. The Cabinet Office also projected that core machinery orders would rise 0.8% in the third quarter and total orders would surge 14%.
According to a report from the Bank of Japan, an index measuring corporate goods prices in Japan was down 0.1% on month in July, coming in at 102.7. That was slightly lower than forecasts for a flat reading following the revised 0.4 percent monthly decline in June.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded at the lower 85 yen level in early deals in Tokyo. The yen is currently trading at 85.33 to the U.S. dollar.
Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia, Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore are trading notably lower. Malaysia and New Zealand are down with modest losses, while Shanghai is up marginally. Markets across the region ended on the downside on Tuesday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed notably lower on Tuesday, as the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged while acknowledging that the economic recovery has lost some steam in recent months. The major averages all ended well off of their worst levels of the day, seeing considerable volatility in late-session dealing following the announcement.
The Dow ended down 54.5 points or 0.5% at 10,644.3, the Nasdaq declined by 28.5 points or 1.2% to 2,777.2 and the S&P 500 slid by 6.4 points or 0.6% to 1,121.1.
Major European markets ended lower on Tuesday. The French CAC 40 index and the German DAX index lost 1.2% and 1% respectively, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index ended down 0.6%.
Crude oil prices drifted lower on Tuesday, weighed down by downbeat import data from China that sparked fears that demand from that country may be waning. Light, sweet crude for September delivery ended down US$1.23 at US$80.25 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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