TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is losing on Tuesday following the overnight sell-off on Wall Street and on a stronger safe-haven yen amid lingering worries about global economic growth. Investors remained cautious ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan's monetary policy decisions due on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 264.91 points or 1.23 percent to 21,241.97, after touching a low of 21,107.13 earlier. Japanese shares ended notably higher on Monday.
The major exporters are lower on a stronger yen. Sony is losing 3 percent and Panasonic is down almost 2 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric and Canon are lower by almost 1 percent each.
In the tech sector, Advantest is adding almost 1 percent, while Tokyo Electron is down 0.3 percent. Among the major automakers, Honda is edging down 0.1 percent and Toyota is lower by 0.4 percent.
Nissan Motor decided not to name anyone as the company's chairman to succeed Carlos Ghosn at a board meeting on Monday. The automaker's shares are adding 0.4 percent.
In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is down more than 1 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is lower by almost 2 percent. In the oil space, Inpex is declining more than 2 percent and Japan Petroleum is losing more than 3 percent.
Hitachi Ltd. said Monday it has reached a deal to acquire the power grid business of Swiss engineering group ABB, initially investing $6.4 billion for an 80.1 percent stake before a complete takeover. Shares of Hitachi are losing almost 2 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Oki Electric and Tosoh Corp. are rising more than 2 percent each, while Toho Zinc is advancing almost 2 percent.
On the flip side, Takeda Pharmaceutical and Casio Computer are losing more than 5 percent each, while Astellas Pharma and Kikkoman Corp. are declining more than 4 percent each.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the upper 112 yen-range on Tuesday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed sharply lower on Monday in a volatile session amid lingering concerns about global economic growth as well as continued uncertainty about trade between the U.S. and China. Traders were also on edge ahead of the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement scheduled for Wednesday.
The Dow plummeted 507.53 points or 2.1 percent to 23,592.98, the Nasdaq tumbled 156.93 points or 2.3 percent to 6,753.73 and the S&P 500 plunged 54.01 points or 2.1 percent to 2,545.94.
The major European markets also moved to the downside on Monday. While the German DAX Index fell by 0.9 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index both slumped by 1.1 percent.
Crude oil futures tumbled and settled at an over 14-month low on Monday on demand growth concerns. WTI crude for January fell $1.32 or 2.6 percent to close at $49.88 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest settlement since early October 2017.
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