TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is declining on Wednesday following the modest gains overnight on Wall Street and on a stronger yen. Worries about trade tensions and slowing global economic growth weighed on investor sentiment.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 96.91 points or 0.45 percent to 21,657.36, after touching a low of 21,623.44 earlier. Japanese shares finished marginally higher on Tuesday.
The major exporters are mixed on a stronger safe-haven yen. Mitsubishi Electric is declining more than 1 percent and Canon is down 0.7 percent, while Sony is rising almost 2 percent and Panasonic is adding 0.3 percent.
Among tech stocks, Advantest is falling almost 4 percent and Tokyo Electron is lower by almost 1 percent.
Tokyo Ohka Kogyo is losing more than 3 percent and Showa Denko is declining 2 percent, while Shin-Etsu Chemical and JSR Corp. are lower by more than 1 percent after the Japanese government said it will restrict exports of three kinds of semiconductor materials to South Korea.
In the oil sector, Japan Petroleum is losing more than 3 percent and Inpex is declining more than 2 percent after crude oil prices plunged overnight.
Market heavyweight SoftBank is down more than 1 percent. In the auto space, Honda Motor is lower by more than 1 percent and Toyota Motor is declining 0.7 percent.
Among the major gainers, Fast Retailing is rising 4 percent and Nippon Suisan Kaisha is advancing almost 2 percent.
On the flip side, Yaskawa Electric is losing almost 5 percent and Mitsui E&S Holdings is lower by more than 4 percent. Mitsui Mining & Smelting and JXTG Holdings are down more than 3 percent each.
In economic news, Japan will see June figures for the services and composite indexes from Nikkei today.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the upper 107 yen range on Wednesday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed modestly higher on Monday amid renewed uncertainty about global trade after the U.S. proposed new tariffs on approximately $4 billion worth of European goods as part of an ongoing dispute over aircraft subsidies. While the U.S. and China have agreed to restart stalled trade talks, the news is a reminder that President Donald Trump is fighting a trade war on multiple fronts.
The Dow rose 69.25 points or 0.3 percent to 26,786.68, the Nasdaq edged up 17.93 points or 0.2 percent to 8,109.09 and the S&P 500 climbed 8.68 points or 0.3 percent to 2,973.01.
European stocks ended mostly higher on Monday. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index advanced by 0.8 percent, the French CAC 40 Index edged up by 0.2 percent and the German DAX Index closed just above the unchanged line.
Crude oil prices fell sharply on Tuesday as concerns about global demand overshadowed a widely expected agreement by OPEC and its allies to extend production cuts by another nine months. WTI crude oil for August delivery plummeted $2.84 or 4.8 percent to $56.25 a barrel.
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