TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is declining on Wednesday following the mixed lead overnight from Wall Street amid uncertainty over U.S.-China trade talks and on caution ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision due later in the day.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 49.77 points or 0.23 percent to 21,517.08, after touching a low of 21,513.88 earlier. Japanese shares edged lower on Tuesday.
The major exporters are mostly lower despite a weaker yen. Sony is losing more than 3 percent, Panasonic is declining almost 1 percent and Canon is edging down 0.1 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric is adding 0.3 percent.
In the tech sector, Tokyo Electron is adding 0.4 percent and Advantest is rising 0.3 percent. Among the major automakers, Honda is adding 0.6 percent and Toyota is up 0.7 percent.
In the banking space, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging up 0.1 percent, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is lower by 0.2 percent. In the oil sector, Inpex is down 0.2 percent, while Japan Petroleum is higher by 0.2 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Mitsui Mining & Smelting is rising 4 percent, while Unitika and Denka Co. are advancing almost 2 percent each. On the flip side, Chiyoda Corp. is losing 4 percent.
On the economic front, members of the Bank of Japan's Monetary Policy Board said that the country's economy continues to expand at a moderate pace, minutes from its January 23 monetary policy meeting has revealed. Annual inflation is expected to continue to increase gradually towards 2 percent, the bank said - and the BoJ is likely to keep interest rates low for an extended period of time to help facilitate that.
Japan also will see February figures for machine tool orders and convenience store sales today.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the upper 111 yen-range on Wednesday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed mixed on Tuesday after seeing early strength, partly reflecting continued optimism about U.S.-China trade talks, which has contributed to a recent upward trend on Wall Street. However, the positive sentiment was partly offset after a report from Bloomberg said U.S. negotiators are concerned that China is pushing back against American demands. Traders also looked ahead to the announcement of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy decision on Wednesday.
While the Nasdaq inched up 9.47 points or 0.1 percent to 7,723.95, the Dow slipped 26.72 points or 0.1 percent to 25,887.38 and the S&P 500 edged down 0.37 point or less than a tenth of a percent to 2,832.57.
The major European markets moved to the upside on Tuesday. While the German DAX Index jumped by 1.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.3 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.
Despite posting their highest level for the year, crude oil futures settled marginally lower on Tuesday. WTI crude for April ended down $0.06 or 0.1 percent at $59.03 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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