TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is sharply lower on Wednesday and the safe-haven yen strengthened following the modest losses overnight on Wall Street and on worries about escalating tensions in the Middle East on news that Iran fired multiple rockets at the al Asad airbase in Iraq that hosts U.S. troops.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 552.37 points or 2.34 percent to 23,023.35, after falling to a low of 22,951.18 earlier. The Japanese market closed higher on Tuesday, rebounding from the steep losses in the previous session.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group Corp. is lower by more than 1 percent and Fast Retailing is declining more than 2 percent.
Among tech stocks, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are losing more than 2 percent each.
The major exporters are also lower on a stronger yen. Panasonic and Mitsubishi Electric are losing more than 2 percent each, Sony is declining more than 1 percent and Canon is lower by more than 1 percent.
Among auto stocks, Honda Motor is losing almost 3 percent and Toyota Motor is down more than 2 percent.
Bucking the trend, Japan Petroleum is higher by more than 3 percent and Inpex is rising almost 2 percent after crude oil prices gained more than 3 percent in Asian trading amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.
Among the other major decliners, Tosoh Corp. and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha are falling almost 5 percent each. Olympus Corp., Tokyu Fudosan, Tokuyama Corp. and Credit Saison are all lower by more than 4 percent each.
On the economic front, Japan will see December results for its consumer confidence index 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 lower on Tuesday in choppy trading amid uncertainty about the impact of rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran following the U.S. airstrike that killed top Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani. While traders generally seem optimistic that the war of words between Washington and Tehran will not escalate into a full-fledged military conflict, the uncertainty kept buying interest in check.
The Dow slid 119.70 points or 0.4 percent to 28,583.68, the Nasdaq edged down 2.88 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 9,068.58 and the S&P 500 fell 9.10 points or 0.3 percent to 3,237.18.
The major European markets finished mixed on Tuesday. While the German DAX Index advanced by 0.8 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both closed just below the unchanged line.
Crude oil futures ended lower on Tuesday, snapping a three-session winning streak, after concerns about a U.S.-Iran standoff faded a bit as there was no further escalation in tensions. WTI crude for February delivery slid $0.57 or about 0.9 percent to $62.70 a barrel.
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